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THE 



CAMBRIDGE 



CHURCH -GATHERING 



1 636. 



DISCOURSE 



CAMBRIDGE CHURCH-GATHERING 



IN 1636 



DELIVERED IN THE FIRST CHURCH, 



ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1846. 



By WILLIAM NEWELL, 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHCRCH IN CAMBRIDGE. 



BOSTON: 

JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 

1846. 



CAMBRIDGE: 
METCALF AND COMPANY 

PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



DISCOURSE 



" We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told 

US, WHAT WORK THOU DIDST IN THEIR DAYS, IN THE TIMES OF OLD. 
HOW THOU DIDST DRIVE OUT THE HEATHEN WITH THY HAND, AND 
PLANTEDST THEM FoR THEY GOT NOT THE LAND IN POSSES- 
SION BY THEIR OWN SWORD, NEITHER DID THEIR OWN ARM SAVE THEM ; 
BUT THY RIGHT HAND, AND THINE ARM, AND THE LIGHT OF THY 
COUNTENANCE, BECAUSE THOU HADST A FAVOR UNTO THEM." — Psalm 

xliv. 1-3. 

On a Monday morning, towards the close of the 
early and severe winter of 1635-36, "The New 
Towne," or " Newtown," as this village was then 
called,* presented an unusual aspect. Instead of the 



* Two years after this (in May, 1638) its name was changed by the 
General Court to Cambridge, in prophetic compliment to the newly es- 
tablished College, and in grateful remembrance of the place in Old Eng- 
land where many of the magistrates and ministers of the Massachusetts 
Colony had received their education. It was at that place, also, that an 
agreement to remove with their families to New England, on condition of 
the transfer of the charter and government of the Colony to this country, 
was drawn up and subscribed by Saltonstall, Dudley, Johnson, Winthrop, 
Nowell, and others, in August, 1629. See it in Hutchinson's Coll., 
p. 25. That agreement determined the destinies of America, and in- 
volved consequences which will finally encircle the world. 



ordinary stir and business of the day, there was a 
Sabbath-like quiet and gravity in the looks and move- 
ments of the people. There were signs of prepara- 
tion for some special solemnity. The signal for a 
public gathering was heard; and, as the inhabitants 
issued from their dwellings and passed with sedate 
step through the streets, others of less familiar coun- 
tenance, who had spent the Sabbath with them that 
they might be here in season, or who had just arrived 
from the neighbourhood, were seen mingling with 
them as they went. Gathering from all quarters 
came the fathers of the infant church and common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, to sanction by their presence 
the solemn act which was about to be performed in 
the first rude temple, which had been erected a few 
years before a little way from the spot on which we 
are now assembled to the worship of the one living 
and true God. From Boston, from Charlestovvn, from 
Winnisimet, from Roxbury, from Dorchester, from 
Watertown, from Medford, from Concord, and the 
towns which were within convenient travelling dis- 
tance, the " messengers " of the invited churches, and 
others drawn hither by curiosity and religious interest, 
were seen wending their way, as they then best could, 
over new rough roads, or across the open fields and 
over the. ice-bridged rivers and streams, to the humble 
Puritan sanctuary. In the midst of the newly-risen 
dwellings which had sprung up as by magic under 
the diligent hands of the Christian adventurers who 
first planted the town, on the rising ground just above 



the marshes, and in the principal street,* leading 
down to the river, — which bore, as it still bears, the 
name of their king,f — stood the House of Prayer. 
A plain, roughly finished edifice it was, but as precious 
in the sight of God as the marble and gilded cathe- 
dral ; another expressive testimonial of the spirit 
which had led the Pilgrims into the Transatlantic 
wilderness, and which, wherever they went, like 
Abraham in his journeyings, builded its altars to the 
Lord. Whether its church-going bell still woke the 
echoes of Cambridge, we have no record to tell us ; 
though some time in the course of the year, as we 



* Then Water Street; now called Dunster Street, after President 
Dunster, whose house, as it is believed to be, is still standing there, — 
the only surviving contemporary of the first church. The church stood 
on the west side of the street, near the place where it is intersected by 
Mount Auburn Street, and on the south side of that street, upon land at 
present owned by Dr. T. W. Harris, Librarian of the. University. The 
spot js now vacant. 

f So named by Captain John Smith, renowned for his bravery, enter- 
prise, and romantic adventures, both in the Old World and the New ; 
one of the first voyagers to New England (which also owes its name to 
him), who, by his writings and personal efforts, did more, perhaps, than 
any other single individual to direct the attention of men of character and 
property towards it, and to interest them in its early settlement. In his 
voyage hither, in 1614, he made a map of the coast, and called it New 
England. " But malicious mindes," he says, " amongst Sailers and oth- 
ers, drowned that name with the echo of Nusconcus, Canaday, and 
Penaquid ; till at my humble sute, our most gracious King Charles, then 
Prince of Wales, was- pleased to confirm-e it by that title and did change 
the barbarous names of their principall Harbours and habitations for such 
English that posterity may say King Charles was their Godfather." In 
another place, he says, — "I tooke the fairest reach in this Bay for a 
river, whereupon I called it Charles River, after the name of our Boyall 
King Charles." Mass. Histor. Coll., 3d Series, Vol. III., pp. 20, 34. 
See also Hillard's Life of Smith, in Sparks's Biography, 1st Series, 
Vol. II. 



learn from an incidental mention of the fact by one 
of our quaint New England historians* of that day, 
the dull, heavy sound of the beaten drum, converted 
for the time from the heathen service of battle and 
war into a herald of the assemblies of the Prince of 
Peace, announced the hour of gathering to the people. 
The little church was soon filled to overflowing. The 
day, perhaps, was one of the mild and bright days 
which February often mingles with its snows and 
storms ; and even if it were not, our hardy sires who 
had left their pleasant homes in Old England for the 
" stern and rockbound coast " of the New, who had 
deliberately exchanged their dear native soil for the 
uncertainties and discomforts of a colony in a heathen 
and savage land, who had traversed the wide, welter- 
ing sea for the privilege of worshipping God in purity 
and freedom, — men who made their religion the sun 
and centre of their being, — were not to be daunted 
by a little cold or a little damp in the performance of 
its duties ; and though our modern safeguards against 
snow and wet were unknown to their pilgrim feet, 
though neither stove nor furnace — those innovations 
of modern church-comfort — softened the chilly air, 
or dissolved the curling breaths that rose thickly up- 
ward in the sanctuary, they never thought of com- 
plaining, much less of staying at home. And as for 
distance from church, miles to them seemed little 
more than as many furlongs now to their descendants. 



* Johnson, in his Wonder-working Providence, Chap. XLIIL, speaks 
of a drum as being used here in 1636 " to call men to meeting." 



" I have heard," says Cotton Mather, in his biogra- 
phy of John Norton, the highly esteemed successor 
of Cotton in the ministry of the First Church in 
Boston, "I have heard of a godly man in Ipswich, 
who, after Mr. Norton's going to Boston, would ordi- 
narily travel on foot from Ipswich to Boston, which is 
about thirty miles, for nothing but the weekly lecture 
there ; and he would profess that it was worth a 
great journey to be partaker in one of Mr. Norton's 
prayers." Thirty miles on foot to hear a Thursday 
lecture ! And now I will venture to say that half of 
our people, even in the very neighbourhood of the 
metropolis, are ignorant that such a lecture still exists ; 
— have never heard of it, or, if they have, have for- 
gotten it, — and that nineteen twentieths of them 
have never attended it in their lives. It has become 
what the present successor of Cotton and Norton has 
so aptly called it, " the shade of the past." Such are 
the changes which take place from generation to gen- 
eration. I do not imagine, however, that such in- 
stances as that which Mather has reported were at all 
common. But it is an indication of the state of feel- 
ing and of society among our ancestors, of which this 
was but an exaggerated specimen. They loved the 
house of God. They prized its privileges. They 
were religiously jealous of its honor ; and nothing 
would have more shocked the devout public opinion of 
that day than absence without good cause from their 
Sabbath assemblies. It would have been death to a 
man's character and influence among them. 



Attendance upon public worship, however, was 
with them a matter not only of fashion and decorum, 
sometimes enforced by civil authority, but of individu- 
al conscience and inclination. They hungered and 
thirsted after religious instruction. They sat patiently 
through services which to their descendants of this 
day would seem of insufferable length. They looked 
up to the pulpit, then at the height of its glory and 
influence, for their weekly supply of thought and spir- 
itual nutriment. Preaching was to them a necessary 
of life. The various causes which in after generations 
have contributed to lower its authority, and to render 
it less exclusively the source of moral and religious 
instruction, had not yet begun to operate. The Con- 
gregational clergy — " the Elders," as they were 
called — were in fact the rulers as well as teachers of 
the young Christian commonwealth. In all important 
questions of a civil, as well as of a religious nature, 
they were formally consulted, and their opinion had 
great weight. "In early times they were generally 
present in the courts." A discourse at the Thursday 
lecture or at a public fast, by Mr. Cotton or Mr. 
Hooker, more than once settled a growing difficulty, 
or turned the scale in favor of some disputed measure. 
The people mingled with reverence for the men much 
of the old reverence for their office, and listened to their 
words with an attention and deference second only to 
that which is accorded by the Catholic to his priest. 
What the altered tastes and habits of thought of the 
present age would hardly tolerate, they listened to not 



only with patience, but with satisfaction and high 
relish. Multiplied divisions and subdivisions of text 
and subject, accumulations of Scripture proofs, gath- 
ered indiscriminately from the Old Testament and the 
New, minute dissections of doctrine, expositions of 
the technical theology of the day, discussions of its 
controverted points, — often in a phraseology which 
added mist to the twilight in which they dwell, — 
these, which to us, as we read them now on the anti- 
quated and discolored page, seem but dry and husky 
food, tasteless and innutritive, and sometimes worse 
than that, were received by our Calvinistic fathers of 
a different training as the sweet marrow of heavenly 
wisdom. In their love of religious ordinances, in their 
zeal for the doctrines and the institutions of their 
choice, in their thirst for divine truth, in their rev- 
erence for the ministry and the pulpit, all quickened 
by the peculiar circumstances in which they were 
placed, the first settlers of New England took a deep 
personal, active interest in all that related to the purer 
church which they came over to establish in a free 
soil, out of the way of the tyrant kings, and the more 
dreaded tyrant bishops,* who would fain have stran- 
gled and crushed it as it rose in their fatherland. 



* The persecutor often does God service, and blesses the world, 
though in a way which he never intended ; as the tornado sows more 
widely the seed which it rends from the parent stalk. The son of one 
of the first ministers, in a preface to a sermon preached soon after the 
Revolution in 1688, remarks, " That, if the bishops in the reign of King 
Charles the First had been of the same spirit with those in the reign of 
King William, there would have been no New England. " r 
2 



10 



They wrapped their religion closer round them in the 
storm. They clave more steadfastly and lovingly to 
their chosen teachers in their trials and persecutions. 
They honored their pulpit the more as the fires of 
intolerance blazed more fiercely against it. Their 
religious privileges were made dearer to them by the 
sacrifices and privations with which they had been 
bought ; and the preached word was sought the more 
eagerly, and enjoyed with a keener zest, because it 
had been arbitrarily and forcibly withheld. These, 
added to other obvious reasons in the character, feel- 
ings, and present circumstances of the first colonists 
in New England, invested every religious occasion 
and religious movement among them with a peculiar 
interest. The gathering of a new church, therefore, 
in this place, in the room of the migratory flock from 
Mount Wollaston,* which was only waiting for the 
summer days to take up its tents and to pursue its 
pilgrimage to the greener pastures of Connecticut, 
was a noticeable occurrence in the early days of the 
Colony ; and Cambridge, before it was rechristened 
by the General Court with its present time-honored 

* " In August, 1632," says Winthrop, " the Braintree company 
(which had begun to sit down at Mount Wollaston), by order of Court, 
removed to Newtown. These were Mr. Hooker's company." They 
had attended his ministry in England, and upon their settlement here, 
they sent to him in Holland, whither he had fled from persecution, en- 
treating him to become their pastor. He came over the next year, and 
took up his abode with them. They were now (in February, 1836) 
preparing for another removal, the reasons of which will appear in the 
following 



11 



name, was one of the chief towns of the Massachu- 
setts settlement. Before our ancestors, with a rare 
and wise forethought, and with a liberality and public 
spirit which can be matched by few examples in his- 
tory, had laid upon this spot the foundations of their 
first and favorite College, before the timely and mu- 
nificent bequest of John Harvard, in 1638, and the 
voluntary contributions of the people at large, had 
reared its walls, our ancient village had its own prior 
claims to distinction. It was originally selected for 
the site of the metropolis ; and was to have been the 
residence of the first governor, Winthrop, and his 
associates in office, who had made an agreement to 
build here,* and in a better and safer style than here- 
tofore, none being allowed to have wooden chimneys 
or thatched roofs, which had already, in other places, 
been the occasion of destructive fires. They actually 
commenced the work in the spring of 1631 .f New 
considerations led them to abandon the original plan, 



* Dudley's Letter to the Countess of Lincoln. 

■j- " Deputy-Governor Dudley, Secretary Bradstreet, and other princi- 
pal gentlemen, in the spring went forward with their design, and intend- 
ed to carry it on amain. The Governor has the frame of his house set 
up where he first pitched his tent ; and Mr. Dudley had not only framed, 
but finished his house there, and removed his family thereinto before win- 
ter ; but on other considerations, which at first came not into their 
minds, the Governor takes down his frame and brings it to Boston, where 
he intends to take up his abode for the future ; which is no small disap- 
pointment to the rest of the company, who were minded to build at New- 
town, and accompanied with some disgust between the two chief gentle- 
men (Winthrop and Dudley) ; but they are soon satisfied with the 
grounds of each other's proceedings." — Prince. 



12 



though not without considerable struggle and some 
hard feeling among those who had been concerned in 
it ; and Boston ere long eclipsed the rising glory of 
Cambridge. The New Town, however, was for a 
time the object of special notice and patronage. It 
was fortified at the public expense for fear of the 
Indians, and a " creek," or passage for boats, was 
made to it from the river, for the payment of which a 
tax was laid upon all the plantations. It was after- 
wards the place in which some of the first annual 
assemblies of the people were held for the election of 
the governor and assistants. Here, under the shade of 
a broad-spreading oak, — one of the aborigines of the 
soil, in its old age when our Washington Elm was a 
sapling, and the decayed stump of which is said to 
have been standing, on the northerly side of our village 
Common, till within half a century, — the privileged 
voters of the new settlements, the freemen, as they 
were called, members of the Congregational churches 
(for they alone for many years were allowed to have 
a voice in civil affairs), chose their rulers for the year ; 
at first in person, and afterwards from " the remote 
towns " by proxy, when a general attendance was 
found inconvenient and expensive, as well as unsafe, 
on account of the exposure of their families in their 
absence to the attacks of their savage neighbours. 
I find, also, that for the two years previous to the 
church-gathering in 1636, Newtown paid the highest 
tax into the colonial treasury, with the exception of 
Boston and Dorchester, whose assessment was the 



13 



same ; * and that at the time when this event took 
place, — before the removal of Hooker's company, — 
it stood in point of wealth at the head of the new 
settlements.! It was then, also, as it had been for 
the last two years, the residence of the governor ; and 
the courts were generally holden here. Wood, who 
returned from this country to England in 1633, in his 
New England's Prospect, published in 1634, speaks 
of Newtown as one of the neatest and best built 
towns in the colony, and of the inhabitants as being 
" most of them very rich, and well stored with Cattle 
of all sorts, having many hundred Acres of ground 
paled in with one general fence, which is about a 
mile and half long, which secures all their weaker 
Cattle from the wilde beasts." I have mentioned 
these circumstances to show that Cambridge from 
the beginning was a place of note ; and that even its 
local affairs, especially such as that which I would 
now commemorate, would naturally attract general 
attention and interest. 

But another occurrence in its history, just before 
the arrival of Shepard and his people, in 1635, had 
made it at that time the occasion of much talk, ex- 
citement, and controversy. In the autumn of 1633, 
Thomas Hooker, one of the most celebrated and in- 



* Except in September, 1635, when that of Boston was a little small- 
er. There were frequent fluctuations, however, in the relative popula- 
tion and wealth of the several towns in the course of a few years. 

t In March, 1636, Newtown was assessed £ 42, Boston and Dorches- 
ter £ 37 10s. each, Watertown £ 30, Salem £ 24, &c. 



14 



fluential of the emigrant Puritan clergy, and Samuel 
Stone, also a man of eminence in his day, were or- 
dained, the former as pastor, the latter as teacher, of 
the church * in this place, where many of Mr. Hook- 
er's former hearers and parishioners were already set- 
tled ; and " the New Towne " rejoiced for a season 
in his light, and reflected his fame. But he and his 
people soon became dissatisfied with their situation, 
complaining of the narrowness of the township and 
the want of land for their cattle, and in a spirit al- 
ready foretokening the future genius and fortunes 
of their descendants, — a spirit which seems to be 
breathed in with our American air, — they proposed 
to go " further west," where they should have both a 
wider and a more fertile territory. Of the manner in 
which this proposition was received and settled, we 
have a full account in the Journal of Governor Win- 
throp. As the whole passage is, on many accounts, 
an interesting one, I shall quote it entire. Under 
date of September 4, 1634, he writes as follows : — 

" The General Court began at Newtown, and con- 
tinued a week, and then was adjourned fourteen days. 
Many things were there agitated and concluded, as 
fortifying in Castle Island, Dorchester, and Charles- 
town ; also against tobacco, and costly apparel, and 



* Of the forma] gathering of this church, — the predecessor of Shep- 
ard's, but having only a transient abode here, — no account has come 
down to us. It probably took place between the day of Hooker's arri- 
val, September 4th, 1633, and his ordination, on the 11th of October 
following. 



15 



immodest fashions ; and committees appointed for set- 
ting out the bounds of towns ; with divers other mat- 
ters, which do appear upon record. But the main 
business, which spent the most time, and caused the 
adjourning of the Court, was about the removal of 
Newtown. They had leave, the last General Court, to 
look out some place for enlargement or removal, with 
promise of having it confirmed to them, if it were not 
prejudicial to any other plantation ; and now they 
moved, that they might have leave to remove to Con- 
necticut. This matter was debated divers days, and 
many reasons alleged pro and con. The principal 
reasons for their removal were, 1. Their want of ac- 
commodation for their cattle, so as they were not able 
to maintain their ministers, nor could receive any 
more of their friends to help them ; and here it was 
alleged by Mr. Hooker, as a fundamental error, that 
towns were set so near each to other. 2. The fruit- 
fulness and commodiousness of Connecticut, and the 
danger of having it possessed by others, Dutch or 
English. 3. The strong bent of their spirits to re- 
move thither. 

" Against these it was said, 1. That, in point of 
conscience, they ought not to depart from us, being 
knit to us in one body, and bound by oath to seek 
the welfare of this commonwealth. 2. That, in point 
of state and civil policy, we ought not to give them 
leave to depart. (1.) Being we were now weak and 
in danger to be assailed. (2.) The departure of Mr. 
Hooker would not only draw many from us, but also 



16 



divert other friends that would come to us. (3.) We 
should expose them to evident peril, both from the 
Dutch (who made claim to the same river, and had 
already built a fort there) and from the Indians, and 
also from our own state at home, who would not en- 
dure they should sit down without a patent in any 
place which our king lays claim unto. 3. They 
might be accommodated at home by some enlarge- 
ment which other towns offered. 4. They might re- 
move to Merrimack, or any other place within our 
patent. 5. The removing of a candlestick is a great 
judgment, which is to be avoided. 

" Upon these and other arguments, the Court being 
divided, it was put to vote ; and, of the deputies, 
fifteen were for their departure, and ten against it. 
The governor and two assistants were for it, and the 
deputy and all the rest of the assistants were against 
it (except the secretary, who gave no vote) ; where- 
upon no record was entered, because there were not 
six assistants in the vote, as the patent requires. Up- 
on this grew a great difference between the governor 
and assistants, and the deputies. They would not 
yield the assistants a negative voice, and the others 
(considering how dangerous it might be to the com- 
monwealth, if they should not keep that strength to 
balance the greater number of the deputies) thought 
it safe to stand upon it. So, when they could pro- 
ceed no further, the whole Court agreed to keep a day 
of humiliation to seek the Lord, which accordingly 
was done, in all the congregations, the eighteenth day 



17 



of this month ; and the twenty-fourth the Court met 
again. Before they began, Mr. Cotton preached 
(being desired by all the Court, upon Mr. Hooker's 
instant excuse of his unfitness for that occasion). He 
took his text out of Hag. ii. 4,* &c, out of which he 
laid down the nature or strength (as he termed it) of 
the magistracy, ministry, and people ; namely, the 
strength of the magistracy to be their authority ; of 
the people, their liberty ; and of the ministry, their 
purity ; and showed how all of these had a negative 
voice, &c, and that yet the ultimate resolution, &c, 
ought to be in the whole body of the people, &c, 
with answer to all objections, and a declaration of the 
people's duty and right to maintain their true liberties 
against any unjust violence, &.c, which gave great 
satisfaction to the company. And it pleased the 
Lord so to assist him, and to bless his own ordinance, 
that the affairs of the Court went on cheerfully ; and, 
although all were not satisfied about the negative 
voice to be left to the magistrates, yet no man moved 
aught about it, and the congregation of Newtown 
came and accepted of such enlargement as had former- 
ly been offered them by Boston and Watertown ; and 
so the fear of their removal to Connecticut was re- 
moved." 

So wrote and thought Winthrop at the time. But 



* "Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord ; and be strong, 
O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high-priest ; and be strong, all ye people 
of the land, saith the Lord, and work : for I am with you, saith the Lord 
of hosts." 

3 



18 



it appears that the satisfaction was only a temporary 
one. The root of the difficulty, whether it lay in the 
reasons actually given, or in others of a private and 
personal nature, not openly avowed and now unknown 
and only matters of conjecture,* was not removed. 
The people of Newtown were still discontented with 
their situation, and bent upon leaving it for a better 
and ampler settlement on the banks of the Connecti- 
cut. It was not thought advisable to oppose their 
wishes any longer, and the next year, 1635, the Gen- 
eral Court gave consent to the proposed emigration. 

In the autumn of this year arrived Thomas Shep- 
ard, with the people of his future charge, who wil- 
lingly purchased the houses and lands which were 
about to be vacated, glad to find an American home 
already prepared for their reception. The first settlers 
of the place, ministers and people, being about to 
transplant themselves in a body to a distant part of the 
country, the new-comers who were to occupy their 
places, and who had already taken up their abode 
here with them, proceeded to organize a new church, 



* It has been supposed by Hutchinson and others, that the growing 
rivalship, though as yet a friendly one, between the leading men of Bos- 
ton and those of Newtown stimulated the wish for a change of situation 
on the part of the latter. Hooker and Haynes of this place, the compet- 
itors in talent, character, and popularity, of Winthrop and Cotton, in 
church and state, were desirous of another independent sphere, where 
they could stand at the head of affairs without collision with their emi- 
nent neighbours. They would rather be first in Connecticut than share 
a divided and doubtful sway in Massachusetts. This, however, seems 
to be a piece of historical scandal, resting only on surmise. The alleged 
reasons for the movement are sufficient to explain it. 



19 



of which Shepard was to be the pastor. The magis- 
trates, as usual, were consulted, and gave their appro- 
bation. The neighbouring churches were invited to 
send their " elders " to be present and take part in 
the solemnity; — the first day of February, 1636 
(O. S.), being fixed upon for the ceremony, a season 
of the year, it may be observed, when people were 
most at liberty to attend it, and when some who, at 
the opening of the spring, were likely to be journey- 
ing and exploring the country, or visiting distant 
towns, were now at home in Boston and the vicinity. 

It was this occasion which had produced the un- 
usual throng and excitement in the village, and had 
drawn together, perhaps, the most interesting and il- 
lustrious assembly, as we now look back upon it, 
which was ever gathered upon such an occasion in 
New England, at least in its early days. The scene 
of that time which comes up before me, — now forgot- 
ten, uncommemorated, without record, save that which 
we owe to the honored pen of Winthrop, — at first 
dimly descried through the haze of the distant past, 
grows upon me in brightness as I gaze upon it. A 
hallowed and a delightful one it was to the actors and 
the witnesses. I see them, as one by one, or in scat- 
tered groups, they enter the house of God. I see 
among its crowded seats the countenances of men 
who "were honored in their generation, and the glory 
of their times." 

And first among the forms which stand out on the 
historic picture, as it presents itself to the eye of a 



Massachusetts memory, is that of John Winthrop, now 
in the meridian of life, the father of our common- 
wealth, the first governor of the colony, and always 
among its ruling and guiding spirits, — " the Nehe- 
miah," as Mather calls him, " of our American Jeru- 
salem," — the able, discreet, faithful, noble-spirited, 
open-handed servant of the rising state, for which he 
freely spent his time, his property, and his strength, — 
a man of many and great virtues, both in public and 
in private life, and whose errors were the errors of his 
age, — of well balanced mind, sound judgment, great 
courtesy and self-command, — prudent in counsel, 
energetic in action, mild and considerate in the exer- 
cise of authority, so as even to be charged by his more 
rigid associates with over-lenity, patient of personal 
injuries, and overcoming evil with good, firm and in- 
trepid in his adherence to right, meek and magnani- 
mous in his acknowledgment of wrong, and pursuing 
through the little and great trials of his lot the even 
tenor of his way, — frugal, abstinent, laborious, self- 
denying, wisely and manfully accommodating himself 
to his new situation, avoiding in himself and discour- 
aging in others all show and expensiveness in dress 
and style of living, foregoing for example's sake many 
of the elegancies and comforts to which he had been 
accustomed, but at the same time dispensing promptly 
and bountifully to the wants of the needy, and im- 
poverishing himself in the public service, — the true 
gentleman, the kind-hearted and benevolent neigh- 
bour, the loving husband and father, the humble and 



21 



devout Christian, whose revered name has been per- 
petuated in its lustre, not only to the third and fourth, 
but to our own generation. * 

And with him, among his fellow-magistrates, though 
more dimly visible,f appears his namesake and eldest 
son, the first born of his early youth, now a man of 
thirty, — John Winthrop, Jr., — lately returned from 
England with " commission from Lord Say, Lord 
Brooke, and divers other great persons in England, to 
begin a plantation at Connecticut, and to be governor 
there," — the heir in full of his father's talents and 
goodness, his superior in learning and accomplish- 
ments, destined to occupy a similar position in the 



* He was a native of Groton, in Suffolk, born in 1587, of religious 
and highly respected ancestry, educated to the law, married at the age of 
seventeen, and at eighteen made Justice of the Peace, winning golden 
opinions of all for his wisdom, impartiality, and firmness. When the de- 
sign of planting the Massachusetts colony was set on foot, he was at once 
fixed upon by general consent as the man best qualified to conduct the 
enterprise. "He was eleven times chosen governor, and spent his 
whole estate," says Hutchinson, " in the public service, the stipend be- 
ing small, and his hospitality great, and his bailiff unfaithful." "His 
family," says Eliot, in 1809, " have been more eminent for their talents, 
learning, and virtues, than any other in New England." An interesting 
memoir of him is contained in Belknap's American Biography, Vol. II. 

f John Haynes was governor, Richard Bellingham, deputy-governor, 
for the present year. The assistants were the two Winthrops, father 
and son, Dudley, Humfrey, Coddington, Pynchon, Nowell, Bradstreet, 
Hough, and Dummer, most of whom, I presume, were present, according 
to invitation, at this gathering of our Cambridge church. In the silence 
of history, I have ventured to paint the scene by the light of probability 
and conjecture. If History should hereafter convict Imagination of some 
error in the representation, the consciousness of the mote in her own eye, 
of the uncertainties and mistakes that sometimes creep even into her 
written records, should make her charitable in her judgment upon any 
dim or false vision of her handmaiden and interpreter. 



22 



sister commonwealth which was soon to grow up by 
the side of Massachusetts, the future benefactor and 
good genius of Connecticut, and its successful agent 
to the Court of Charles the Second, from whom, by 
his address and personal influence, he obtained an 
ampler and more favorable charter than had been yet 
granted to any of the colonies, — for the fourteen 
years after that until his death successively chosen to 
the highest office in the gift of the grateful people (in 
which, I may add, his own son, Fitz-John, another of 
this family of American nobles, afterwards succeeded 
him), and adding to his eminence in public life a high 
distinction in medical science and philosophical studies 
and attainments, being one of the founders of the 
Royal Society of London, and a valued contributor to 
its papers. The promise of his studious boyhood had 
been richly fulfilled. The " dutiful and well-deserving 
child " had become the virtuous and strong-minded 
man. A liberal education at the Universities of Cam- 
bridge and Dublin had been followed up by opportu- 
nities of foreign travel, in which he visited the greater 
part of Europe. The graces of the Christian charac- 
ter, according to his father's devout wish, so finely 
expressed, added " lustre and beauty to the gifts of 
nature and industry." * Returning from his travels 



* " The Lord grant that thy soul may still prosper in y e knowledge of 
Js. Cht., and in y e strength of y e Spirit, as thy mind is strengthened in 
wisdom and learning ; for this gives the true lustre and beauty to all 
gifts, both of nature and industry, and is as wisdom with an inheritance." 
— Winthrop's letter to his son at Trinity College, Dublin. 



23 



at the age of twenty-three, with improved mind and 
unsullied morals, he readily gave up his prospects of 
preferment in England for a wilderness home. " I 
have seen so much of the vanity of the world," he 
said, in a letter to his father, " that I esteem no more 
of the diversities of countries than as so many inns, 
whereof the traveller that hath lodged in the best, or 
in the worst, findeth no difference when he cometh to 
his journey's end ; and I shall call that my country, 
where I may most glorify God and enjoy the presence 
of my dearest friends." 

And here, in this land of his adoption, his genius 
and his virtues found their happy field and reward. 
The purity and high tone of his principles, the sweet- 
ness of his temper, the placid serenity and content- 
ment of his spirit, his large charity and tolerance, his 
wisdom and moderation, his varied gifts and acquire- 
ments, blessed the circle and the community in which 
he moved. " If he had faults, they are forgotten. In 
history he appears by unanimous testimony, from early 
life, without a blemish ; and it is the beautiful testi- 
mony of his own father, that ' God gave him favor in 
the eyes of all with whom he had to do.' " * 

Near them we discern the sterner countenance of 
Thomas Dudley, another of the trusty and devoted 



* "The New World was full of his praises; Puritans and Quakers, 
and the freemen of Rhode Island, were alike his eulogists; the Dutch at 
New York, not less than all New England, had confidence in his integ- 
rity; Clarendon and Milton, Newton and Robert Boyle, became his 
correspondents." — Bancroft's Hist, of the U. S., Vol. II., p. 53. 



24 



servants of the colony, whose name is so often asso- 
ciated with Winthrop's ; the first deputy-governor, 
and afterwards from time to time governor, the prin- 
cipal founder of our town, and the zealous champion 
of its interests,* whose house f stood close by the 
church, — and his heart too ; — a plain, blunt man, of 
great integrity and independence, of strict honor and 
truth in his dealings, J hardy in body and in mind, 
able in business, well qualified in most respects for 
public office, which he retained till his death, but at 
the same time of an irritable temperament and strong 
passions, somewhat close, it was thought, in money 
matters, with a soldier's ^ roughness of speech, severe 

* In behalf of which he had a serious misunderstanding with Win- 
throp, as mentioned above, which was finally settled by the ministers ; 
Winthrop, with his usual moderation and magnanimity, submitting to 
their judgment against him, acknowledging himself to have been 
"faulty," and promptly rendering the pecuniary satisfaction required of 
him, which Dudley, with an equally honorable spirit, refused to accept. 
The reconciliation between them was soon after more completely sealed 
by a family union, Dudley's son marrying a daughter of Governor Win- 
throp. 

f At the foot of Water Street, then so called (see p. 5), and opposite 
the " creek " before spoken of. It seems, from the following passage in 
Winthrop (Vol. I., p. 73), to have been built in better style than others 
of the time. " The governor having formerly told him that he did not 
well to bestow such cost about wainscoting and adorning his house, in 
the beginning of a plantation, both in regard of the necessity of public 
charges, and for example, &c, his answer now was, that it was for the 
warmth of his house, and the charge was but little, being but clapboards 
nailed to the wall in the form of wainscot." 

J Governor Belcher says, — "It was wrote of him, 

' Here lies Thomas Dudley, that trusty old stud, 
A bargain 's a bargain, and must be made good.' " 

§ He had a captain's commission from Queen Elizabeth, and served 
under Henry the Fourth at the siege of Amiens, in 1597. In 1644, he 
was appointed major-general of the colony. 



and unbending in the administration of the laws, and 
zealously intolerant in his religious sentiments. 

John Haynes, too, without doubt, is there ; that 
" heavenly man," as Roger Williams calls him, the 
governor for the present year, another of the early 
settlers of Cambridge* under the ministry of Hooker, 
and afterwards with him one of the fathers of Con- 
necticut, where he enjoyed an unbounded and unin- 
terrupted esteem and popularity at the head of affairs 
in that colony ; his wealth, as well as his wisdom and 
uprightness, giving him an influence which he contin- 
ued to possess and to deserve through life. 

Not far from him, in the seats allotted to the most 
honored of the assembly, I see one, lately arrived 
from England, whom the veering popular favor is 
about to place — though but for a single termf — in 
the chief magistracy occupied successively by Win- 
throp, Dudley, and Haynes, men of more than twice 
his age ; — a young man of twenty-four, of noble 
birth, and more noble spirit, of rich genius and accom- 
plishments, of persuasive eloquence, in after life at 
least, as Hume testifies, of consummate ability and ad- 
dress, remarkable even in that age so famed for its 



* He lived on the west side of Winthrop Square, then Market Place. 

f The Hutchinson controversy, in which he took the unpopular side, 
and his principles of wide toleration, so uncongenial with the spirit of the 
age, turned the current against him, and defeated his election the follow- 
ing year. Notwithstanding this, after his return to England, whenever 
opportunity offered, he always " showed himself," says his rival and op- 
ponent, Winthrop, " a true friend to New England, and a man of a noble 
and generous mind." 

4 



26 



active talents, — of patrician family, but of republican 
and Puritan principles, — a most pure and devout 
Christian, a far-sighted and profound thinker,* an ar- 
dent lover and consistent defender of civil and re- 
ligious liberty in its widest extent, a zealous seeker 
and champion of truth, one of the earliest expound- 
ers, not to say discoverers, of the fundamental princi- 
ples of a constitutional republic, — whose high and 
eventful career, commencing amid controversy and 
tempest in the New World, and passing through 
scenes of intense and varied excitement in the Old, is 
to terminate in a martyr's calm and heroic death upon 
the scaffold, — a death worth more to mankind than 
a thousand common lives, — a death which made all 
England's heart thrill, which drew admiration even 
from his enemies, and forced from one of the by- 
standers, a zealous loyalist, the applauding and ex- 
pressive exclamation, "He dies like a prince!" I see 
him in the midst of the magistrates and elders, with 
that composed thoughtfulness of aspect, and grave 
majesty of demeanour, which gave to his blooming 
manhood the weight and authority of age ; — his re- 
serve and quietness of manner, like the snows over a 
still volcano, covering from a stranger's eye the in- 
tense enthusiasm and energy which glowed in the 



* Sir James Mackintosh, whose opinion will weigh down a host of 
minor authorities, spoke of him as " one of the most profound minds that 
ever existed, not inferior, perhaps, to Bacon." He has been often called 
a fanatic. Such fanatics are the salt of the earth and the light of the 
world. 



27 



deep soul beneath ; — his peculiar and striking coun- 
tenance having that in it which at once commanded 
attention, and, as Clarendon says of it, " made men 
think there was something in him extraordinary," as 
there indeed was. Those of you who are familiar 
with our early history will remember the name, the 
character, and the fortunes of Sir Henry Vane. And 
those who are not have a feast yet in store for them 
in the deeply interesting biography of him published 
a few years since, by a writer of our own country.* 
It was fitly reserved for an American pen to render 
to this man of American principles the full justice 
which, from obvious causes, his memory had failed to 
receive in his own land. It was to him that Milton, 
at an after period, addressed the lines, — 

" Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, 
Than whom a better senator ne'er held 
The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled 
The fierce Epirot, and the African bold ; 
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 
The drift of hollow states, hard to be spelled ; 
Then to advise how war may, best upheld, 
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
In all her equipage ; besides to know 
Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 
What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done; 
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe ; 
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans 
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son." 



* Rev. C. W. Upham, in Sparks's American Biography, 1st Se- 
ries, Vol. IV. "New England," says Grahame, "has now repaid 
Vane's noble devotion by the best (Mr. Upham's) memoir of that great 
man that has ever been given to the world." 



28 



I see this young English nobleman, whom Milton 
in the fond admiration of a kindred spirit addressed 
as " Religion's eldest son," surrounded by the exiled 
ministers of that religion for whose sake, as La Fay- 
ette afterwards did for Liberty's sake, he had volunta- 
rily relinquished the splendors of rank, and the brilliant 
prospects which opened before him at the English 
court, under the high position and influence of his 
father and his elevated family connections, for the re- 
tirement of an obscure colony in the wilds of America. 
I see him as, with shut thoughts and closed, meditative 
look, he dwells apart in a world of his own, to the 
likeness of which he would fain bring the kingdoms 
of this. 

Near him is his chosen preacher and friend,* John 
Cotton ; the ecclesiastical patriarch of the Massa- 
chusetts colony, silenced by Laud for the unpardon- 
able sin of Puritanism and neglecting to kneel at the 
sacrament, but now rejoicing in his banishment from 
country and home as the opening, in Providence, of 
an enlarged sphere of active usefulness and influence, 
in which his learning and popular talents, his piety 
and zeal, the weight of his character, and the mild- 
ness of his spirit, placed him at the head of the clergy. 

By his side sits his colleague in the ministry, John 
Wilson, the first pastor of the Boston church, of 
which Cotton was the teacher, so called ; — of whom 
it was said by the celebrated Dr. Ames, " that if he 

* It appears from Cotton's will, that Vane was for a time — probably 
at his first coming — an inmate of his family. 



29 



might have his option of the best condition this side 
heaven, it would be that of teacher in a congrega- 
tional church of which Mr. Wilson was pastor " ; * — 
and of whose preaching our own Shepard, when he 
first heard him, exclaimed, — " Methinks I hear an 
apostle when I hear this man." Cambridge saw him 
again the year after this, on a very different occasion, 
and in a quite different attitude. In the violent re- 
ligious controversy kindled by Mrs, Hutchinson, which 
then divided the people and was carried into their 
civil affairs, — Winthrop and Vane taking opposite 
sides, — he was a zealous and decided opponent of 
the new doctrines, showing in this as in other emer- 
gencies, that, with all the meekness and love which 
characterized him, he had an equal share of spirit and 
energy when it was called for. At the exciting and 
tumultuous election which was held in this town in 
the spring of 1637, for the choice of governor and as- 
sistants, the grave Boston pastor climbed into a tree 
and harangued the people with such effect, that they 
immediately insisted on taking the vote, which re- 
sulted in the triumph of Winthrop and his party. 
" Blessings on his meek head ! " says his living suc- 
cessor.! " His zeal had no mixture of sternness in 



* It was then thought necessary to the complete organization of a 
church that there should be a teacher to indoctrinate, instruct, and con- 
vince, a pastor to exhort and persuade, and one or more ruling elders to 
assist in the government and discipline of the church, and to conduct the 
religious services in case of the absence or sickness of the pastor and 
teacher, who divided the labors of the Sabbath between them ; besides 
the deacons, who had charge of the funds of the church. 

t Rev. N. L. Frothingham, in his Second Century Discourse. 



30 



it. He was a pattern of wisdom and gentleness in 
an age which needed it all." 

Among his brethren who appear in the scene as it 
rises before us out of the mist of time, we may dis- 
cern James and Symmes, of Charlestown, and Phil- 
lips,* of Watertown, the fellow-passenger of Win- 
throp in the Arabella, of whom the governor writes, 
at his death, as "a godly man, specially gifted, and 
very peaceful in his place, much lamented of his own 
people and others." And in another seat is the future 
pastor of Concord, one of the strictest of the Puritans, 
Peter Bulkley ; f a gentleman by birth and education, 
a scholar of no mean attainments, with a well-furnish- 
ed library (of which he gave a considerable part to the 
College in this place) and a large estate, of which he 
made most bountiful and judicious use in the advance- 
ment of private and public good. 

Another glance shows us Richard Mather, of Dor- 
chester, an eminent divine and controversialist, and 
the progenitor of the many distinguished ministers of 
that name. His neighbour, the pastor of Roxbury, 
that zealous opponent of the new lights of his time, 
Thomas Weld, now chiefly remembered as the author 



* A visiter, I presume, at the solemnity, though there was no formal 
delegation from his church, which, in its thorough-going principles of In- 
dependency, as we learn from Lechford and Winthrop, did not send 
" messengers " to any other church-gathering or ordination, and did not 
invite any to its own. 

f Soon after his arrival in this country, he became one of the residents 
and proprietors of Cambridge. The gathering of the Concord church 
took place the summer following our own, and in our Cambridge sanc- 
tuary. 



31 



of " The Rise, Reign, and Ruin of the Antinomians," 
has accompanied him on the way, and has taken his 
place among the delegates of the invited churches. 
And there, too, is his beloved colleague, the self- 
sacrificing and tender-hearted Eliot ; the apostle to 
the Indians, and their devoted and unflinching friend, 
the first and most efficient Protestant missionary to 
these wild men of the soil, who, a few years after this, 
with the aid of Gookin, one of the distinguished in- 
habitants of this place, commenced his labors among 
the savages, and made his first conversions at Nonan- 
tum, then lying within the limits of Cambridge. 
His efforts and sacrifices were rewarded indeed with 
but a temporary and inadequate success ; but his lov- 
ing and saintly spirit enjoyed its reward, as it still 
toiled on in patience and hope. 

Hugh Peters, too (a name not to be forgotten), 
who, with Vane and others, had arrived in New Eng- 
land the preceding autumn, and was now in Boston 
or the neighbourhood (for he was not settled at Salem 
till December, 1636), was in all probability at the 
gathering of our Cambridge church. He, too, was 
one of the remarkable men of a remarkable period ; 
and afterwards became a conspicuous actor in the 
revolutionary scenes in the time of Charles the First. 
He was the chaplain and counsellor of Cromwell ; 
distinguished by a quaint and homely, but original, 
vigorous, Latimer-like eloquence, which made him one 
of the most popular and effective preachers of his 
time ; an ardent, resolute, active, and enterprising 



32 



man, lion-hearted and trumpet-tongued, entering with 
characteristic enthusiasm and energy into the political 
as well as religious controversies of the day, ready to 
fight or pray, as his services might be wanted, and 
finally, like Vane, dying upon the scaffold, and, like 
Vane, meeting his fate with an unshaken fortitude and 
heroism. While he was in this country, his ministry 
at Salem, and his spirited public services of various 
kinds, made him a rich blessing to the town and the 
state in which he lived. Of quick mind and versatile 
talents, ready to act upon all occasions and in all 
matters, temporal as well as spiritual, the influence of 
his counsels and wise suggestions, of his labors and 
successful example, left a deep and enduring impres- 
sion upon the character of his Salem flock.* 

But time would fail me to speak fully of the hon- 
ored and useful men, both among the laity and the 
clergy, who, we have good reason to believe, stood 
sponsors at the christening of our ancient church. I 
can only mention the names of such men as Richard 
Bellingham,f and Simon Bradstreet, one of the first 
settlers of Cambridge, both of them afterwards chosen 



* Hugh Peters was father-in-law to the younger Winthrop. He was 
an active friend of the College. In 1641, he went as agent in behalf 
of the colony to England, but never returned to this country. 

f Bellingham died governor, in 1672. Bradstreet, the Nestor of the 
Massachusetts colony, whose life nearly covered the century, dying in 
1697, at the age of ninety-four, was at the head of the government when 
he was nearly ninety, and was sixty years in public office. He married 
a daughter of Thomas Dudley, a lady of poetical talent and literary ac- 
complishments, whom Cotton Mather bedaubs with pedantic praises. 






33 



several times to the chief magistracy, in Massachu- 
setts, — William Coddington, a wealthy Boston mer- 
chant, of high character, a friend and supporter of 
Mrs. Hutchinson, and afterwards among the founders 
of Rhode Island, and its governor at his death, — 
William Pynchon, the father of Roxbury, and then of 
Springfield, — Increase Nowell, of Charlestown, for 
many years secretary of the colony, — who, with oth- 
ers of less note, filled the seats of the sanctuary. 

In front of all were the pastor and the teacher of 
the first flock here gathered, Thomas Hooker and 
Samuel Stone, who were soon to be the spiritual 
fathers of another colony at Hartford.* Hooker also 
was one of the admired and renowned preachers of 
his time, and became to Connecticut what Cotton was 
to Massachusetts, its ecclesiastical patriarch and 
oracle, — " the light of the western churches." 

" So piercing was his holy ministry, 
Each ear that heard him said, He spake to me." f 



* Hartford was named after the birthplace of Stone. In a " Thre- 
nodia upon our Churches' second dark Eclipse, happening July 20, 1663, 
by Death's Interposition between us and that great Light and Divine 
Planet, Mr. Samuel Stone, late of Hartford, in New England," are 
the following lines : 

" In Hartford Old, Stone first drew infant breath, 
In New, effused his last : O, there beneath 
His corps are laid, near to his darling brother, 
Of whom dead oft he sighed, Not such another. 
Heaven is the more desirable, said he, 
For Hooker, Shepard, Haynes's company.^ 

Morton's N. E. Mem., p. 303. 
f P. Bulkley's Lines on the Death of Hooker, in Morton's Memorial. 
5 



34 



"His colleague, Stone," as his contemporary, Mor- 
ton, testifies, " was another star of the first magnitude 
in New England," — "a learned, solid, and judicious 
divine," celebrated not only for his ability as a dis- 
putant, but for his wit, pleasantry, and good-humor. 
The close of his life was agitated and embittered by 
a schism in his church, growing out of a controversy 
between him and the ruling elder upon some ec- 
clesiastical questions, in which all the neighbouring 
churches became involved. His future antagonist 
now sits by his side, in the picture before the mind's 
eye of the church-gathering at Newtown. Once be- 
fore this he dimly makes his appearance in the annals 
of the time, at the session already referred to of the 
General Court, in which he was one of the deputies 
from this place, when, as we read, " Mr. Goodwin, a 
very reverend and godly man, being the elder of the 
congregation at Newtown, having in the heat of ar- 
gument" (probably about the removal to Connecticut) 
" used some unreverend speech to one of the assist- 
ants, and being reproved for the same in the open 
Court, did gravely and humbly acknowledge his 
fault."* 

In the elder's seat, under the pulpit, and fronting 
the congregation, is seen " a poore, weak, pale-com- 
plectioned man," in clerical garb, with arms folded 
under his velvet cloak, of humble, devout aspect, with 

* Winthrop, Vol. I., p. 142. 



35 



a shade of anxiety and sadness* upon his counte- 
nance, and in the attitude of meditation and prayer. 
It is the " faithful and famous " Shepard, the future 
pastor of the Cambridge flock, under whose ministry 
the history of our church is commonly reckoned to 
begin ; — a man of fervent, childlike piety, of great 
simplicity and earnestness, of humble and affectionate 
spirit, wholly devoted to his Master and his Master's 
work, and eminently blessed in his ministrations ; — the 
author of several doctrinal and practical works, in 
high esteem among his contemporaries, though now 
scarcely to be met with except in our College library 
or on the shelves of the antiquarian; — a preacher of 
uncommon unction and power, with that peculiar gift, 
not always to be distinctly analyzed, which makes a 
man eloquent in the pulpit and wise in winning souls, 
even without great genius or personal advantages. 
" His natural parts were weak, but spent to the full." f 
" Though his voice was low, yet so searching was his 
preaching and so great a power attending, as a hypo- 
crite could not easily bear it, and it seemed almost 

* His wife was then in the last stage of a consumption, brought on by 
the exposure and fatigues of the voyage with an infant child, and died a 
fortnight after. Shepard was tenderly attached to her. The ocean- 
rocked boy, her only surviving child, baptized on the Sunday following 
the church-gathering, became the minister of Charlestown, and was suc- 
ceeded at his death by his only son, of the same name. All were short- 
lived. Shepard's second wife was a daughter of Thomas Hooker. His 
third wife, who survived him, married his successor, Jonathan Mitch- 
ell. Besides Thomas, he had two other sons, Samuel and Jeremiah, 
who were also settled in the ministry, and were highly beloved and re- 
spected. 

f Johnson. 



36 



irresistible." * It was the cry of a prophet's warning, 
uttered in the tone of affectionate entreaty. 

" A parish priest was of the Pilgrim train, 
An awful, reverend, and religious man. 

He bore his great commission in his look, 
But sweetly tempered awe, and softened all he spoke ; 
He preached the joys of heaven and pains of hell, 
And warned the sinner with becoming zeal, — 
But on eternal mercy loved to dwell." f 

By his side are two others J of the new company, 
just settled here, who are to take part with him in the 
exercises of the day, the ruling elder and the deacon, 
hereafter to be chosen, of the newly organized church. 
Near them, as the eye glances over the assembly, an- 
other group of our own townsmen attracts our notice, 
— the first five§ who enter with them into church- 
covenant, among whom, besides the loved and faithful 
brother of Shepard, we discern one who has shown 



* Prince. f Dryden. 

J These, I have little doubt, were Edmund Frost, and Thomas Mar- 
riot, or Marrett, as the name was afterwards written, — the same who 
held the offices of ruling elder and deacon in 1658, as appears from the 
list of church-members at that time, in the Appendix to this discourse. 
Richard Champney and Gregory Stone were their associates in office, in 
1658, and were among the early members of the church ; but, as I am led 
to think from a fact stated in the Appendix, they did not join it during 
the first month. 

§ These we may conjecture to have been Roger Harlackenden, Joseph 
Cooke, Nicholas Danforth, Samuel Shepard, and George Cooke; as be- 
ing the men of most note among the first twelve who, in addition to 
T. Shepard, Frost, and Marriot, appear to have joined the church before 
March 3d, 1636. I was pleasantly surprised by the discovery of the 
names of the original members of the church, which I had supposed 
to be among the buried, irrecoverable things of the past. See Appendix. 



37 



him a brother's affection and care, his protector and 
supporter in his native land, his companion to the 
New World, of whom Shepard speaks as his " most 
dear friend, that most precious servant of Jesus 
Christ," Roger Harlackenden,* — "a young gentle- 
man, valiant in faith," "of good family and estate," 
in high esteem through the community, whose early 
death, in 1638, at the age of twenty-seven, was a 
great grief to his pastor, and an affliction not only 
to the town, but to the colony, in which he was al- 
ready honorably distinguished. 

Such was the congregation now assembled in de- 
vout silence to witness or take part in the solemnity. 
The records of our Cambridge church for the first sixty 
years, with the exception of a single fragment,! which 
has been picked up from the wreck, have been unfor- 
tunately lost ; at what time, and by what accident, I 
have never been able to ascertain. The only account 
which we have of the transaction is found in the in- 
valuable Journal, so often quoted, of Governor Win- 



* Winthrop, under date of November 17th, 1638, has the following 
notice of him : — "Roger Herlakenden, one of our magistrates, about 

thirty years of age, second son of Herlakenden, of Earl's 

Colne, in Essex, Esq., died at Cambridge, of the small-pox. He was 
a very godly man, and of good use, both in the commonwealth and in 
the church. He was buried with military honor, because he was lieuten- 
ant-colonel. He left behind a virtuous gentlewoman and two daughters. 
He died in great peace, and left a sweet memorial behind him of his piety 
and virtue." His sister, Mabell, who came over with him, married 
Governor Haynes. 

f A list of church-members, with their children, in 1658, and for a 
few years after, which will be found in the Appendix. 



38 



throp, himself no doubt an eyewitness of the scene. 
The fulness of this account, compared with his no- 
tices of other similar occasions, seems to me to indi- 
cate a peculiar interest in it. This is the record 
which he makes in his Journal : — 

" 1635, Mo. 12. 1. Mr. Shepherd, a godly minister, 
come lately out of England, and divers other good 
Christians, intending to raise a church body, came and 
acquainted the magistrates therewith, who gave their 
approbation. They also sent to all the neighbouring 
churches for their elders to give their assistance at a 
certain day, at Newtown, when they should constitute 
their body. Accordingly, at this day, there met a 
great assembly, where the proceeding was as follow- 
eth : — Mr. Shepherd and two others (who were after 
to be chosen to office), sate together in the elder's 
seat. Then the elder of them began with prayer. 
After this Mr. Shepherd prayed with deep confession 
of sin, &c, and exercised out of Eph. v., — that he 
might make it to himself a holy, &c. ; and also open- 
ed the cause of their meeting, &c. Then the elder 
desired to know of the churches assembled, what 
number were needful to make a church, and how they 
ought to proceed in this action. Whereupon, some of 
the ancient ministers, conferring shortly together, gave 
answer : That the Scripture did not set down any 
certain rule for the number. Three (they thought,) 
were too few, because by Matt, xviii. an appeal was 
allowed from three ; but that seven might be a fit 
number. And, for their proceeding, they advised, 



39 



that such as were to join should make confession of 
their faith, and declare what work of grace the Lord 
had wrought in them ; which accordingly they did, 
Mr. Shepherd first, then four others, then the elder, and 
one who was to be deacon (who had also prayed), 
and another member. Then the covenant was read, 
and they all gave a solemn assent to it. Then the 
elder desired of the churches, that, if they did approve 
them to be a church, they would give them the right 
hand of fellowship. Whereupon, Mr. Cotton (upon 
short speech with some others near him), in the name 
of their churches, gave his hand to the elder, with a 
short speech of their assent, and desired the peace of 
the Lord Jesus to be with them. Then Mr. Shepherd 
made an exhortation to the rest of his body, about the 
nature of their covenant, and to stand firm to it, and 
commended them to the Lord in a most heavenly 
prayer. Then the elder told the assembly, that they 
were intended to choose Mr. Shepherd for their pastor 
(by the name of the brother who had exercised), and 
desired the churches, that, if they had any thing to 
except against him, they would impart it to them 
before the day of ordination. Then he gave the 
churches thanks for their assistance, and so left them 
to the Lord." 

This is dated the first day of the twelfth month of 
1635. In the times of our ancestors, the year began 
on the 25th of March, which was reckoned the first 
month, and February the twelfth. Adding ten days 



40 



for the difference between Old Style and New, the 
date of the gathering is February 11th, 1636. 

Seven generations, then, have just " passed on," 
since the first permanent church in Cambridge was 
solemnly organized, in the presence of a cloud of 
honored witnesses, according to the simple usages of 
our Congregational fathers. I have thought that it 
might not be improper or uninteresting to commem- 
orate the occasion with some historical notices like 
those which I have endeavoured to present to you. 
It is good for us from time to time to visit the Mount 
Auburn of memory, to stand by the tombs of departed 
sages and prophets, and to read again upon the sunken 
monuments the moss-covered inscriptions which tell 
us of their labors and merits. We need not deny, 
and we need not forget, their faults. We will remem- 
ber them as warnings and beacons. Where, through 
human infirmity, and sore temptation, and the pressure 
and spirit of the age, they were inconsistent with 
themselves and false to their principles, we may read 
a lesson for our own times without harsh judgments 
upon their memory. We may notice, that we may 
avoid their errors. But it is pleasanter to dwell upon 
the beautiful image of their virtues, revealing itself 
more and more distinctly as we gaze back into the 
dim and scattered records of the past. It is more 
honorable and more edifying to study the glorious 
everlasting truths and principles which they main- 
tained and illustrated, than with carrion appetite to 



41 



hunt out the dead follies, superstitions, and exploded 
opinions which were unhappily mingled with them. 
If we cannot agree with them in the whole of their 
theological creed, we can agree with them in their 
religious spirit. If we cannot adopt their doctrinal 
phraseology, we can admire and cherish their religious 
faith. If, in the light of what we deem to be a juster 
interpretation of the Scriptures, and a sounder reason- 
ing, we are forced to reject their Calvinism, we can 
nevertheless honor and maintain as firmly and steadily 
as they the precious truth which was inclosed and 
incrusted within it, like the diamond in the rough rock. 
If, in this elder age of the world, we can no longer 
believe with them in witches and apparitions, in omens 
and dreams, we can believe as devoutly as they in the 
ever-living, ever-loving God, and in the invisible world 
on whose borders we are standing. If, from our pres- 
ent point of view, we must condemn or deplore their 
occasional exclusiveness and intolerance, their vio- 
lations of the rights of the individual conscience, 
their bitterness of language and inquisitorial harshness 
of dealing in the treatment of their heretics, we can 
gladly and reverently acknowledge — we should filially 
love and copy — their noble zeal for the glory of God, 
for the honor of Christ, for the propagation of his 
gospel, for the establishment of his law, for the diffu- 
sion of his spirit. Where they were right, we will 
follow them ; where they were wrong, we will leave 
them for the truer and better path, till it strikes again 
into theirs. Where they were mistaken, God forbid 



42 



that we should repeat their errors for the sake of their 
company, however unwillingly we may part from it. 
But where they have left us wise and winning exam- 
ples, — where they have gone before us in the way to 
heaven in shining garments, — God forbid that we 
should ever be recreant to our ancestry. We should 
hold faster to the Christian principles and the Chris- 
tian virtues which are associated with their names. 

A few days since, I ascended into the tower of this 
church, and surveyed the animating and beautiful 
scene upon which it looks. Around me in every di- 
rection I saw thriving villages, from which a thousand 
busy and cheerful smokes curled upward into the sky ; 
to the east, the populous city, crowned with its state- 
ly dome and pointing heavenward with its spires ; 
close by, the College edifices, — the crowded grave- 
yard, — the churches of the Episcopal and Baptist 
dissenters from the old Congregational establishment, 
the sight or foresight of which would have made 
Dudley's * heart ache. At a distance, the steam of 
the locomotive hung like a low cloud over the ground, 
as the long train shot swiftly by ; — below me, multi- 
tudes of sleighs and pleasure-parties were sailing over 
the frozen roads; — the sounds of business and of 
merriment came mingling up into the air. 

As I gazed upon the scene around me, so full of 

* His farewell lines, found upon him after his death, have been often 

" Let men of God in courts and churches watch 
O'er such as do a toleration hatch." 



43 



prosperity and promise, all radiant with the light of 
New England industry and New England enterprise, 
I could not help contrasting it with that which pre- 
sented itself to the eyes of Winthrop when he first 
pitched his tent in midwinter upon this then unin- 
habited spot. My thoughts went back to the time of 
Hooker and Shepard, — to the day of small things, — 
when only here and there could be seen a little cluster 
of newly finished and unpainted houses, rising amidst 
wild grounds, hitherto undisturbed except by the 
sounds of nature's offspring, the howl of the wolf, or 
the shout of the savage. I ascended in imagination 
the turret of the first plain church where our fathers 
worshipped ; — and all around was as yet a desert, 
though Faith illumined it with the presence of their 
God, and Hope brightened it with her visions of the 
coming future. As I looked upon the fosse and pali- 
sade, the Indian settlement at Nonantum came up 
before me ; — and the listening group of the red child- 
ren of the soil, as they reverently gathered around the 
apostolic Eliot on his first visit to their wigwams, two 
centuries ago this very year. I saw walking by his 
side the tall, straight form of the black-haired Waban,* 
— the first fruits of his zealous and persevering min- 
istry, — affectionately accompanying his teacher on 
his way back to his Roxbury home. Could they now 



* See Life of Eliot, by Rev. Dr. Francis, in Sparks's American Bi- 
ography, Vol. V., pp. 48, 50, et seq. The name of this Indian chief ap- 
pears also in our town records, in a business contract signed by him 
with " his mark," in 1647. 



44 



rise from their graves, and return to the world as 
they left it, and, reentering the tabernacle of flesh, 
view the places which once knew them with the same 
powers, the same eyes, as of yore, with what amaze- 
ment would they behold the transformation that two 
centuries have accomplished ! What a strange mix- 
ture of the familiar and well remembered objects 
among which they once dwelt and moved with the 
gradual additions of after generations, with the novel- 
ties and improvements of the nineteenth century, with 
the inventions of modern comfort, the splendors of 
modern luxury, and the wonders of our iron roads ! 

But in thus contemplating the changes which have 
taken place since their time in the scenes around us, 
I remembered that the great essential features of the 
landscape still remain the same. One generation of 
men passeth away, and another generation cometh ; 
but the earth abideth for ever. Nature and the laws 
of nature, the year and the seasons, go on as at the 
beginning and as in the days of our fathers. The 
same wood-crowned hill, which rose upon their eyes, 
rises upon ours. The same river, which winded its 
way along the fields of the Pilgrims, and by a defen- 
sive palisade, still winds its way by the cultivated and 
thick-settled villages of their descendants. The same 
soft outline edges the horizon ; the same sun shines 
down lovingly upon all ; the same azure firmament 
bends over them ; the same ever-burning stars light 
up the evening sky. In the grandeur and mild beauty 
of the unchanging forms of his creation, God is still 



45 



speaking to us the language which he spake to them 
of old time. It is the same yesterday, to-day, and 
for ever. 

And as it is with the sky, and soil, and face of the 
landscape, so may it be with the character of our 
people. With these changes upon the surface, may it 
ever show itself to be at heart, and in its great fea- 
tures, the same essentially as it was two centuries ago. 
In all that was noble and worthy, useful and good, in 
the parent stock, let it be our aim and our earnest 
endeavour to remain true to our ancestry, worthy of 
our calling, and to transmit to our posterity the refined 
and purified spirit of the Pilgrims, — the gold cleared 
from the dross. 

We stand in their places. They have committed 
the torch of freedom and truth to our hands. We 
must bear it aloft in their spirit, if not with their 
creed. " Contend earnestly for the faith as it was 
once delivered to the saints," was their motto ; and, 
according to their idea of that faith, they were true to 
it. " Contend earnestly for the faith as it was once 
delivered to the saints," should be the motto of this 
church still, — and should be written in letters of light 
over its walls. The Christianity of Jesus Christ, — 
the truth as it spoke from his lips, as it shone out 
from his life, — the pure and undefiled religion which 
came down from heaven, — may this church hold it 
fast and hold it forth with a holy zeal united always 
with a holy charity and love. 

Brethren, let us begin the new year of our church 



46 



in the purified spirit of our fathers. Let us begin the 
new year of our church with a determination to do 
what we can, each and all, to make it more worthy 
than it has been of its Christian name, and privileges, 
and hopes. Let the warm blood of a living faith and 
a free-flowing charity circulate through its veins, and 
give it a more vigorous life. Let its winter birthday 
find summer and sunshine in the heart. Let the First 
Church in Cambridge be ever among the first in all 
good things. 

And now " unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 
named, — unto Him be glory in the church by Christ 
Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. 
Amen." 



APPENDIX. 



In the original Colony Records at the State-House in Boston, I found 
in the list of freemen admitted March 3, 1636, a month after the Cam- 
bridge church-gathering, the following names, arranged in the order in 
■which they here stand, namely : — 

Roger Harlackendine, Esq., 

Mr. Joseph Cooke, 

Mr. George Cooke, 

Mr. Nicholas Danforth, 

Thomas Marryot, 

Mr. Samuel Shepheard, 

Wm. French, 

Simon Crosby, 

Thomas Cheeseholme, 

John Russell, 

Passevil Greene, 

Mr. Hugh Peters, 

Thomas Bloyett, 

Edmond Frost, 

Mr. Thomas Shepheard, 



Henry Vane, Esq. 

These fifteen names preceding that of Vane, — which is separated 

from them by a little dash, as in the original, — are, with the exception 

of Hugh Peters,* the names of men who are known from the town 

records to have been inhabitants of Cambridge. These freemen were, 



* With what church, if any, Hugh Peters had connected himself, is not 
known to me. Possibly in his case the usual condition was dispensed with. 
He did not settle at Salem till the December following. 



48 



of course, members of the church; and as the Court, at which they 
were admitted, and before which they personally appeared to take the 
freeman's oath, was held that month in Cambridge, it is probable that 
all who were then in church-fellowship here availed themselves of the 
opportunity of obtaining the privileges of freemen. They appear to have 
come in a body to the Court, and the order of their names is probably the 
order in which they were admitted, those of highest standing being re- 
ceived and enrolled first. The title of Esquire, attached to the names of 
Harlackenden and Vane, was given at that time only to those of a cer- 
tain rank or office. These two, with Governor Haynes, another of the 
English gentry, are the only ones among the Massachusetts emigrants 
after Winthrop who appear to have had this title before coming to this 
country. Here it was also given to the governor, deputy-governor, and 
assistants of the colony. The title of Mr., too, was not the common ap- 
pellation which it now is, but somewhat aristocratic, and was confined to 
those of a certain station in society. Out of the forty-seven freemen ad- 
mitted in March, with Vane and Harlackenden, there are only seven so 
honored ; all but one being of Cambridge. In 1635, out of the one hundred 
and forty-four admitted, there are only seven Mr.'s. Thomas Marryot, 
however, stands on the list before Mr. Samuel Shepheard, who probably 
gave way to him on account of his age and his office of deacon. It will be 
observed, also, that in this list of our Cambridge people, the names of Ed- 
mond Frost and Thomas Shepheard stand last, as if the ruling elder and 
the pastor had come in together after the others, or chose to be placed last. 
Hugh Peters may have been in company with his Cambridge friends, 
perhaps on a visit here, and came in with them into the Court to be ad- 
mitted freeman. Possibly he may have connected himself for this pur- 
pose with our Cambridge church . But there is no record to determine 
the fact. 

On the 25th of May, 1636, four others, known to be of Cambridge, were 
admitted freemen, and were of course among the first members of our 
church, namely : — Richard Champney, Gregory Stone, Edward Goffe, 
Thomas Judd. 

In addition to the names above given, that of Mr. Clement Chaplain, 
whom we also know to have been at that time a resident of Cambridge, 
stands by itself at the head of the freemen admitted in March, 1636. 

We thus find the names of eighteen, at least, besides Shepard, who 
were in all probability members of our Cambridge church at its first or- 
ganization, or within four months after; and, we may presume, the only 
male members at that period. These, with their wives, constituted the 
original church. About half of them will be found among the members 
recorded as still living in 1658, in Mitchell's list, — the fragment which 
helps us to cross the sixty years' chasm in our records. 



49 



Shepard, in his autobiography, tells us, that his wife, Margaret, en- 
tered into church fellowship before her death. The names of the wives 
of the persons above mentioned, as presumed to be the first members of the 
church, are Elizabeth Harlackenden, Thomasine Frost, Jane Champney, 
Susan Marrett, Lydia Stone, Elisabeth French, Ann Crosby, Isabel 
Cheeseholme, Susan Bloggett, Ellen Green, Joyce Goffe. Elisabeth (wife 
of Joseph) Cooke, Alice (wife of George) Cooke, and Hannah (wife of 
Samuel) Shepard, were probably not married at the time of the gather- 
ing. The names of the wives of Danforth, Russell, Judd, and Chaplain 
(if all married), I have not been able to ascertain. 



Roger Harlackenden, the principal man in Shepard's company, has 
already been noticed in the discourse. He was married to Elizabeth, 
daughter of Godfrey Bosseville, June 4, 1635, and about the 10th of Au- 
gust (as Shepard tells us) set sail with his young bride, and his sister 
Mabel, to seek a new home, and to find an early grave, in America. He 
was one of those who " took New England in their way to heaven." 
Hubbard says that he came in the same ship with Vane. From Shepard's 
autobiography, and from a manuscript register recently discovered in one 
of the public offices in London, containing the names of persons permitted 
to embark at London for this country in 1635,* we learn that Harlacken- 
den came in company with Thomas and Samuel Shepard, the two Cookes, 
William French, and the ministers Wilson and Jones. He settled with his 
chosen pastor at Cambridge, where he purchased the house and estate of 
Dudley, who removed to Ipswich, and afterwards to Roxbury. His con- 
tinued attachment to Shepard is expressed in his will (in Suffolk Probate 
Records), in which it appears that he left him a legacy. His elder 
brother, Richard Harlackenden, seems to have had some intention of emi- 
grating to New England, and a farm of six hundred acres was granted to 
him, on condition of his coming over within a certain period ; but he never 
came, and the land was transferred to Roger. He is erroneously enumer- 



* See Savage's Gleanings, in the Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d Series, Vol. VIII. 
In this document, — first examined and made known to us by Mr. Savage, — 
Thomas Shepard appears to be registered under the assumed name of" John 
Shepard, a husbandman," followed by the true names and ages of his wife 
and infant child. He was one of the proscribed ministers, and was com- 
pelled to conceal his name in order to escape from the country. In the same 
register, S. Shepard, William French, Joseph Cooke, and his brother George 
(whose name is there written Cocke, instead of Cooke) are recorded as ser- 
vants of Harlackenden. They appeared in this character for the purpose, no 
doubt, of evading some of the tyrannical regulations then in force. 
7 



50 



ated in Holmes's History of Cambridge among the first proprietors and 
settlers of this. place. It appears from the " Gleanings " of Mr. Savage, 
to whom the students of our ancient New England history are so largely 
indebted, that Richard died at an advanced age, at the family seat, I sup- 
pose, in Essex. 

Five of the first church-members, namely, Harlackenden, Danforth,* 
Green, Crosby, and Bloggett, died within four years after their arrival. 
Chaplain (elected representative in 1636) and Judd removed to Hartford. 
Danforth was one of our enterprising and influential inhabitants, and was 
often employed in public trusts by his townsmen ; as were the two 
Cookes, Russell, Chaplain, and S. Shepard, while they remained here. 
George Cooke commanded the company which was sent to apprehend 
Gorton and his associates, was speaker of the House of Deputies in 1645, 
and afterwards became a colonel in the service of Cromwell, in Ireland ; 
where also (as appears on page 54) Samuel Shepard was living in 1658, 
with the rank of major. French removed to Billerica, where numerous 
descendants of his are now living. He died in 1681. Cheeseholme became 
a deacon of the church, and died August 18, 1671. Goffe f died Decem- 
ber 26, 1658. Champney died in 1669. He is called " Elder Champ- 
ney " in the town records, under date of February, 1637. His colleague, 
Frost, is also designated at that time by the same title. Frost died in 
1672. His posterity are still among us. Deacon Marrett died June 30, 
1664, aged 75. Gregory Stone, another of the first deacons, brother of 
the Rev. Samuel Stone, died November 30, 1672, aged 82. He was the 
last survivor in Cambridge of the first eighteen, who, with Shepard, consti- 
tuted the original church. A footstone, with the initials of his name upon 
it, is still to be seen in our ancient burying-ground. John Cooper, the son 
of his wife by a former husband, was a deacon of the church, and had a 
son (Samuel) who was afterwards chosen to the same office. His oldest 
son, John Stone, is called "Elder" in his epitaph in our church-yard. 
He was probably elder of the church in Sudbury, where he lived for some 
years. (See Harris's Cambridge Epitaphs, p. 179.) 



The covenant which was read and agreed to at the church-gathering, is 
not extant. It was, probably, like others of the time, a simple, and brief 
one. That which is at present in use in our church was adopted May 
18, 1834, and is as follows : — 

" Covenant of the First Church in Cambridge. 

" We, whose names are underwritten, do solemnly acknowledge Jesus 

* Nicholas Danforth died April, 1638, not 1637, as Farmer has it. 
t Mentioned by Shepard, in his autobiography, where he speaks of 
" Brother Champney, Frost, Goffe, and diverse other most deare saint3." 



51 



Christ to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, as he is repre- 
sented in the New Testament ; and, as his disciples, we do now express 
our earnest desire and intention to live a holy, religious, and useful life, 
after the example and in the spirit of our Lord. We do also purpose to 
walk with the church, while we have opportunity, in a regular attendance 
on Christian ordinances, in the promotion of Christian truth and charity, 
and in the exercise of those acts of Christian fellowship and affection, 
which the relation in which we stand to one another may seem to us to 
demand."* 



The list of church members, &c, in the time of Mitchell, which here 
follows, was found in 1815, by my predecessor, the Rev. Dr. Holmes, in 
the Prince collection of manuscripts, then deposited in the library of the 
Old South Church, in Boston. The original manuscript, in eighteen 
folio pages, with double columns, worn, faded, and discolored, is now 
bound up in the first volume of our church records, which commence with 
the ministry of Brattle, in November, 1696. On the first blank leaf, in 
the handwriting of Rev. Thomas Prince, formerly minister of the Old 
South, is written, — "List of members in the Church of Cambridge in 
y e handwriting of y e Rev. Mr. Jonathan Mitchell." This being the only 
ancient document of this kind which has come down to us, I have thought 
it worth while to print and preserve it for the use of those who are curi- 
ous in such matters and interested in genealogical inquiries. 

N. B. f. c. stands for "full communion." This abbreviation, which 
frequently occurs in the original, will be used throughout. 

The Church of Christ at Cambridge, in N. E , or, the Names of all the 
Members thereof that are in Full Communion; together with their 
children who ivefe either baptized in this Church, or (coming from 
other churches) ioere in their minority at their parents joyning ; 
taken and registered in the 11. month, 1658. 

MR. THOMAS SHEPARD, late faithfull and famous pastour of this 
Church of Christ at Cambridge, was translated hence unto the Church 
triumphant, 25. of 6th m. 1649, and left behind him 4 sonnes, 3 whereof 



* It is usual for those who become members of the church to sign their 
names to this covenant, or to signify their assent to it to the pastor, or, in 
case of his absence, to one of the deacons. If any individual should decline, 
from conscientious scruples, to sign or assent to the covenant, the pastor has, 
in such a case, a discretionary power to dispense with the observance of this 
form. 



52 



are now living; namely, Thomas, admitted to f. c. with us March 28, 
1656 ; and now lately dismissed to the Ch. of Christ at Charlestowne 
for the work of y e ministry there. Samuel, baptized in this church ; 
admitted into f. c. July 19, 1663; dismissed to Rowley, August 13, 
1665 ; ordained pastour there Novemb. 15, 1665. Jeremiah, baptized 
in this church. 

JONATHAN MITCHELL, present pastour of this Church, and Mar- 
garet, his wife. Their children now living are, Nathaniel, baptized 
here. John, baptized here; departed this life Octob. 29, 1659, about 
2 of clock in y e morning. Samuel, born Octob. 14, 1660; baptized 
Octob. 21, 1660. 

RICHARD CHAMPNY, Ruling elder, and Jane, His wife, in f. c. ; 
their children, yet living, Esther Champney, now [Convers], living 
at Wooburne, baptized in England, aged about six years when her 
fFather joyned here ; Samuel, admitted into f. c. Octob. 18, '61 ; Lydia, 
admitted into f. c. May 31 ; Daniel, admitted into f. c. March 7, 1663; 
Samuel, Lydia, and Daniel, baptized in this Church. 

EDMUND FROST, Ruling Elder also of this Church, and Thomas- 
Anne, his Wife, in f. c. Their children, John, Samuel, Joseph, 
James, Mary, Ephraim, Thomas, and Sarah, All baptized in this 
Church: save John, who was baptized in England, being about — 
old when his father joyned here. 

CAPTAIN DANIEL GOOKIN,* and Mary, his wife, both in f. c. Their 
children, Mary and Elizabeth, baptized elsewhere, but the elder not 
full 6 yeares old when their parents joyned in this Ch. ; both admitted 
into f. c. May 23, 1665. Daniel, Samuel, and Nathaniel, borne and 
baptized here. 

MR. CHARLES CHAUNCY, President of the Colledge, and Catharine, 
his wife, dismissed hither from the Ch. at Situate, and joyned here in 
y e 1st month of y e yeare 1656. Their children,! Barnabas and Sarah, 
admitted also into f. c. Decemb. 10, 1658. Hannah, Nathaniel, El- 
nathan, and Israel, baptized at Situate. 

JOHN HOLMES, a Student and servant to Mr. Chauncy, in f. c. with 
us, adult; dismissed to Duxbury, July 6. 

MR. JOSEPH COOK, and Elizabeth, his wife, both in f. c. Their 
children, Joseph, admitted into f. c. May 18, 1666 (his child, John, 
baptized Januar. 26, '67) ; Elizabeth, Mary, Grace, and Ruth, all bap- 
tized in this Ch. 

* The coadjutor of Eliot and the friend of the Indians, the last major-gen- 
eral under the old charter, a man of great firmness, integrity, and benevo- 
lence. His son, Nathaniel, was minister of Cambridge after Oakes. 

t He had two other sons, Isaac and Ichabod. All his sons were educated 
at Harvard. 



53 



MR. EDWARD COLLINS, Deacon of this Church, and Martha, his 
wife, both in f. c. Their children, Daniel, now living at Konnings- 
berg, in Prussia, about 9 yeares old when his parents joyned here ; 
John,* admitted into f. c. before he went from hence, being now minis- 
ter of God's word at Edinburgh, in Scotland ; Samuel, now also living 
in Scotland (the wife of Samuel Collins admitted into f. c. May 31, 
1664. Their child, Edward Collins, baptized June, 1664) ; Martha, 
Nathaniel, Abigail, and Edward, borne and baptized here. 

MR. JOHN WHYTING, now preacher of y« word at Salem, and Sybill, 
his wife (daughter to y e forenamed Edward Collins), both admitted to 
f. c. here. Both dismissed to the Church of Christ at Hartford. 
Their children, Sybill and John both baptized here ; William baptized 
ffebruar. 19, 1659. 

MR. NATHANIEL SPARROWHAWKE, sometimes Deacon of this 
Church ; Mary, His first, and Katharine, His second wife, all now de- 
ceased, left with us five children; namely, 1. Nathaniel, whose wife 
Patience is admitted into f. c. with us ; and their children are Mary and 
Sybill, both baptized in this Ch. ; Esther, baptized May 5, 1661 ; 
Samuel Sparrowhawke, baptized ffebr. 5, 1664 ; Nathaniel, baptized 
Nov. 3d, 167-. 2. Anne, now the wife of John Cooper, mentioned 
afterwards, being in f. c. 3. Mary. 4. Esther Sparrowhawke, admit- 
ted into f. c. Decembr. 15, 1658. 5. Elizabeth, now living with Broth. 
Thomas Cheeseholme. 

GREGORY STONE, Deacon of this Ch., and Lydia, his wife, in f. c. 
whose children, John, Daniel, David, Elizabeth, Samuel, and Sarah, 
Also John Cooper, son of the foresaid Lydia, and Lydia Fiske, her 
daughter, being all of them, through the Rich Grace of Christ, come 
into f. c. with his people ; they will be mentioned afterward in their 
places, all save John Stone, now joyned member of the Church of 
X 1 at Sudbury, Lydia Fisk, now deceased, Elizabeth Stone, now Pot- 
ter, living at Ipswich, Sarah Stone, now Miriam, joyned to y° Ch. at 
Concord. 

JOHN BRIDGE,! also Deacon of the Church, and Elizabeth, His wife, 

* He was afterwards a celebrated preacher in London. He was the chap- 
lain of General Monk, when he went from Scotland to England. Nathan- 
iel was the much esteemed minister of Middletown. Cotton Mather has a 
chapter in his Magnalia upon the Collins family, in which he says : — " There 
was a good old man called Collins, the deacon of the church at Cambridge, 
who is now gone to heaven ; but before he went thither, he had the satisfac- 
tion to see several most worthy sons become very famous persons in their 
generation." 

1 He was freeman in 1635, and probably joined Hooker's church before the 
arrival of Shepard ; as did Guy Bainbridge, E. Winship, and S. Green. 



54 



both in f. c. Under his care also is Joseph Lampson, the Son of Bar- 
nabas Lampson, deceased, sometimes a member of this Church. Also 
Dorcas Bridge, the Daughter of Dorcas (the wife of Thomas Bridge), 
deceased, sometimes in f. c. with us. 

THOMAS MARMOT, Deacon of the Ch., and His wife, Susan, both 
in f. c. Their children, John and Thomas, the elder of y m being but 
about five years old w n his father joyned here ; But both baptized in 
England : Hannah, now lately admitted into f. c. with us ; viz. on 
Decembr 15, '58. 

MR. (MAJOR) SAMUEL SHEPARD, and His wife, now living in 
Ireland, doe yet stand in memberly Relation to us. And Here is with 
us their Daughter, Jane Shepard, now under the care of Mr. Edw. 
Collins, before named. 

MR. ELIJAH CORLET,* Schoolemaster, and Barbara, his wife, both in 
f. c. Their children, Rebeccah, Hephzibah, and Ammi Ruhamah, all 
baptized here. 

EDMUND ANGIER, a member of this Ch. in f. c. ; so was also his 
former wife, Ruth [the Daughter of that famous Light Dr. Ames], 
now at rest with y e Lord. Their children, now living, are Ruth, 
Ephraim, and Samuel, all baptized in this Church ; Hannah baptized 
Dec. 16, '60 ; Mary, baptized May 10, 1663, deceased ; Edmund, bap- 
tized Septemb. 25, 1659, deceased; John, baptized May 15, 1664, de- 
ceased ; Nathaniel, baptized May 14, 1665, deceased ; Elizabeth, bap- 
tized Sept. 22, 1667. 

EDWARD GOFFE, lately deceased (viz. on Decemb. 26, 1658), was 
a member with us in f. c. ; so was and is also Margaret, his wife. 
His children by a former wife (who was also in fellowship with this 
Ch.) are Samuel, baptized in England, and when his father joyned 



* This famous old Cambridge schoolmaster was a graduate of Oxford ; and 
became teacher of the grammar school in this place as early as 1643. In 
" New England's First Fruits," published that year, is the following passage ; 
— " By the side of the Colledge a faire Grammar Schoole, for the training 
up of young schollars, and fitting of them for Academical learning, that still 
as they are judged ripe, they may be received into the Colledge of this 
Schoole : Master Corlet is the Mr. who hath very well approved himself for 
his abilities, dexterity, and painfulnesse in teaching and education of the 
youths under him." He was teacher here for more than forty years. In the 
town records, under date of Nov. 13, 1648, is the following : — " It was agreed 
at a meeting of ye whole towne, that there should be land sold of y e Common 
for y e gratifying of Mr. Corlet for his pains in keeping a school in y e Towne, 
y e sum of ten pounds, if it can be attained ; provided it shall not prejudice 
ye Cow Common." His son, Ammi Ruhamah, was a Fellow of Harvard 
College, of which he was a graduate in 1670. 



55 



here aged about seven years, and Lydia. His children by Margaret, 
now living, are Deborah, Hannah, and Abiah, all baptized in this 
Church. 

JOHN STEDMAN, and Alice, his wife, both in f. c. Their children, 
Elizabeth, Sarah, and Martha, all borne and baptized here. Elizabeth, 
admitted into f. c. March 27, 1663 ; Sarah, admitted into f. c. May 31, 
1664 (her child, Sarah Bracket, baptized June 5, 1664, deceased ; 
John Bracket, baptized April 21, '67); Martha admitted into f. c. 
May 31, '64. 

EDWARD OAKES, a member in f. c. His children, Urian* and Ed- 
ward, baptized in England ; the eldest about ten years old when His 
father joyned here. He is now minister of y e word in England. Mary 
and Thomas, baptized here. 

RICHARD JACKSON, and Elizabeth, his wife, both members in f. c. 

THOMAS DANFORTH f (eldest Son of Mr. Nicholas Danforth, de- 
ceased), and Mary, his wife, both in f. c. Their children, Sarah, Mary, 
Samuel, and Thomas, all baptized in this Church ; Jonathan, baptized 
ffebr. 13, '58 ; Elizabeth, baptized Januar. 29, 1664 ; Bethiah Dan- 
forth, baptized June 16, '67 ; Joseph Danforth, baptized Sept. 22, 
1661, deceased Octob. 2, '63 ; Benjamin, baptized May 24, '63, de- 
ceased August 23, '63. 

SAMUEL ANDREWS (Son of Mr. William Andrews, deceased), as 
also Elizabeth, His wife, were joyned in f. c. with us on Decemb. 10, 
1658. Their children, Samuel and William, both baptized here in 
this church; John, Baptized March 10, 1660-1; Elizabeth, baptized 
April 12, 1663 ; Thomas, baptized May 21, '65, deceased ; Mary An- 
drews, baptized Januar. 6, 1666 ; Thomas, baptized March 29, '68. 

ROBERT HOLMES, is member in f. c.,as was also Jane, his wife, now 
deceased. Their children, John, Joseph, and Elizabeth, all baptized in 
this Church. 

THOMAS CHEESEHOLME, and Isabel, His Wife, are both of them 
Members of this Ch., and in f. c. In his family, and under his Care, is 
Benoni Eaton (Son of Mr. Nathan. Eaton), who was baptized here and 
whose mother dyed a member of this Church. 

EDWARD SHEPARD, member in f. c. So was also his first wife, 
Violet, deceased. Their children y' were in minority when He joyned, 
are Abigail, now living at Dedham; Deborah, now also at Dedham ; 
and Sarah, now dwelling at Braintree. The eldest of these aged twelve 
years, y e 2d ten, and the 3d seven years, when their Parents joyned here, 



* Afterwards President of Harvard College. 

t A distinguished public character, a man of ability, wisdom, and resolu- 
tion, — deputy-governor for many years, and elected to other important 
offices. 



56 



being all baptized in England. Mary, now the wife of the foresaid 
Edward Shepard, was dismissed hither from Ch. at Dorchester, and is 
in f. c. with us. Her daughter, Mary Pond, baptized at Dorchester, 
was eleven years old at her mother's joyning with us. 

WILLIAM FRENCH, and Elizabeth, his wife, both members in f. c. 
Their children, Elizabeth, now Elliot, and now joined at Dedham ; Ma- 
ry, baptized in England, between two and three yeares old at Her 
father's joyning ; John, baptized by Mr. Hooker, in Cambridge ; Sarah, 
Jacob, and Hannah, borne and baptized in this Church. 

EDWARD MITCHENSON, and Ruth, his Wife, both in f. c. Their 
children, Ruth, Bethia, Edward, and Elizabeth, all baptized in this 
church. 

JONAS CLARK,* and Elizabeth, his wife, both in f. c. His children by 
a former wife, Sarah and Jonas ; By Elizabeth, above named, Elizabeth, 
Thomas, and Timothy, all five baptized in this Church ; Samuel, bap- 
tized Novemb. 6, 1659 ; Abigail, baptized May 4, 1662 ; Mary Clark, 
baptized March 12, '64-5. 

JOHN COOPER (Son of Lydia, now wife of Deacon Stone above- 
named), and Anna, His Wife, both in f. c. Their children now living 
are, Anna (marryed to E. P. [Edmund Pinson] and deceased), Mary, 
Samuel, John, Lydia (baptized Apr. 13, '63), Hannah (baptized De- 
cemb. 29, 1667), all baptized in this Church ; Nathaniel, baptized May 
8, 1659, deceased in Decemb. 1661. 

THOMAS BEALE, and Sarah, his Wife, both members in f. c. 

WILLIAM MANNING, and Dorothy, his Wife, both members of this 
Ch. in f. c. Their children, Hannah, Samuel, Sarah, John, and Mary, 
all borne and baptized in this church. 

JOHN FEZINGTON,f and Jane, his Wife, both in f. c. In his family 
is Reuben Olbon, who, together with his sister Elizabeth, were bap- 
tized in this church, being the children of our Sister Olbon (lately Cole), 
now deceased. 

ROBERT STEDMAN, and Anne, his Wife, both in f. c. Their child- 
ren, John, Mary, and Thomas, all born and baptized in this Church. 
Thomas, Dyed April 2, 1659. 

ANDREW BELCHER, J and Elizabeth (daughter of Mr. Nicholas Dan- 
forth), His Wife, both in f. c. Their children, Elizabeth, Jemimah 
(rec. into f. c. March 5, 1665-6), Martha (f. c. May 19, 1666), An- 
drew, and Anna ; all baptized in this Church, the Eldest being almost 
fourteen yeares old, y e 2d 12, and y e 3d 10, &c, when baptized. 



* Afterwards ruling elder of the church. He died in 1699, aged 80. 

t Now written Fessenden. 

$ The grandfather of Governor Belcher. 



57 



ANNE BRIDGE, the Wife of Matthew Bridge, Daughter also of Mr. 
Nicholas Danforth (before named) is in f. c. with this Ch. Her child- 
ren, John, Anne, Matthew, Samuel, and Thomas, all baptized in this 
Church. Elizabeth, baptized Septemb. 18, 1659. 

ELIZABETH GREEN, the wife of Bartholomew, deceased, is a mem- 
ber in f. c. with this Ch. 

JUSTICE BAINBRICK, the widow of Guy Bainbrick, deceased, is 
memb. in f. c. 

SAMUEL GREEN,* son of Elizabeth, before-named, is in f. c. So also 
was Jane, his wife (daughter to y e foresaid Justice Bainbrick), now de- 
ceased. Children borne to the said Samuel and Jane Green, Elizabeth, 
Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Lydia (deceased Sept. 24, 1665), and Deborah ; 
all borne and baptized in this Ch. Jonah Green, the son of Samuel 
and Sarah, baptized Januar. 31, 1663; Lydia, baptized Nov. 12, '65; 
Bartholomew, baptized Nov. 3, 67. 

NATHANIEL GREEN, and Phebe Green (children of the forenamed 
Bartholomew and Elizabeth), are also in f. c. 

SARAH LONGHORN, y e wife of Thomas Longhorne, and daughter of 
Elizabeth Green, aforesaid, is member in f. c. Her children, Sarah, 
Elizabeth, and Mary, all baptized ; Samuel, baptized Decemb. 9, '60 ; 
Mercy, baptized May 11, 1662; Patience Longhorne, baptized April 
3d, 1664. 

THOMAS FOXE, and Ellin, his Wife, both in f. c. His son, Jabez 
Foxe, baptized at Concord, but in minority when his ffather joyned here. 
Her children by a fFormer Husband (viz. Persevill Green, deceased, 
sometimes a Brother of this Church) are, John Green, now in f. c. 
with this ch., to be mentioned afterward; Elizabeth Green (now 
Hall), joyned in f. c. with y e Church of Christ, at Concord. Both in 
their Infancy baptized here. 

RTCHARD ROBINS, and Rebecca, his wife, both memb. in f. c, 
formerly dismissed to us from the Church at Charlestown. Their chil- 
dren, John, Samuel, Nathaniel, and Rebecca, all baptized here save 
the eldest, who was baptized at Charlestowne, and yet under fourteen 
years of age at His Parents joyning with us. 

FRANCIS MOORE, the Elder, and Elizabeth, his wife, both in f. c. So 
was also Katharine, his former wife, now deceased. His children, 
ffrancis, who, together with Alby, his wife, is also in f. c. ; Samuel, 
who is now in Barbadoes, and was about nine years old w n his father 

* The veteran conductor of the Cambridge printing-press, — the first in 
New England, — which he carried on successfully for half a century. Many 
of* his descendants, of the same calling as well as name, have ably sustained 
the reputation of their ancestor. His second wife was a daughter of Elder 
Clark. 



58 



joyned here, baptized in England ; Anne Moore, now Kiddar, who is in 
f. c. ; John (the Sonne of ffrancis and Katharine), baptized in this 
Church; Elizabeth, now wife of ffrancis, aforesaid, hath three children, 
but they were all above the age of fourteen years (the youngest, viz. 
Rebecca, being above fifteen) at the Time of her joyning with this 
Church, which was in y° 1'' month of y e year 1657. 
NICOLAS WYTH, and Rebeccah, his Wife, both members in f. c. 
Their children, Mary, Nicolas, Martha, John, and William, all bap- 
tized in this Church. The said Nicolas had also by a former wife a 
daughter, baptized in England, named Sarah Wyth, now frisk, dwell- 
ing in Watertowne, who was about thirteen years of Age when her 
ffather jcyned to this Church. The said Rebeccah, now wife of Nicolas 
Wyth, had also by Her former Husband, Thomas Andrewes, three 
children, viz., Thomas, Daniel, and Rebeccah Andrewes, all three bap- 
tized also in this Church. 
GILBERT CRACKBONE,* memb. in f. c, and Elizabeth, His Wife, 
joyned May 22, 1659. His Son, Benjamin, was about five or six years 
old when His father joyned here. 
WILLIAM HEILY, and Grace, his Wife, both members of this Ch. in 
f. c. His children, Hannah (admitted -into f. c. March 27, '63 ; Dis- 
missed to Salisbury, June 24, 1667), Elizabeth, Sarah, and William, 
Borne at Roxbury and baptized there, whiles He stood member of the 
Church of Lin, from whence He was dismissed to us. Also Grace (the 
daughter of William and Grace) borne and baptized in this Church ; 
Nathaniel, baptized ffeb. 6, 1658 ; Martha, baptized Septemb. 9, 1660 ; 
Samuel Heily, Son of William and Phoebe (formerly Green), baptized 
Septemb. 21, 1662 ; Paul Heily, Baptized April 3d, 1664 ; Mary Heily, 
baptized Octob. 29, 1665. 
GEORGE WILLOWES, and Jane, his wife, both in f. c. His Children, 

Thomas and Stephen, borne and baptized in this Church ; Also, 
JOHN PALFREY, son of Jane aforenamed, admitted into f. c. with us 
Decemb. 10,1658; His child, Rebekah, baptized Septemb. 17, 1665; 
John, baptized April 14, 1667, deceased; Elizabeth Palfrey, baptized 
May 24, 1668. 
GOLDIN MOORE, and Joane, his Wife, both in f. c. Their children, 
Hannah (received into f. c. May 18, 1666), Lydia, and Ruth, all borne 
and baptized in this Church. Also the said Joane had by Her former 
Husband, John Champny, three children, viz. Mary Champny, now 
Richardson, living at Wooburn ; Sarah; John, deceased ffeb. 20, 1664 ; 
all three baptized in this Ch. 
WILLIAM BULLARD, and Mary, his Wife, both in f. c. Her Daugh- 

* He was admitted freeman in December, 1 630, and was of course one of 
the early members of the church ; as was Thomas Beale, admitted at the same 
time. 



59 



ter, Hannah Grisold (whose father, ffrancis Grisold, was also member 
with us), borne and baptised in this Ch. 
THOMAS SWETMAN, and Isabell, his Wife," both in f. c. Their child- 
ren, Elizabeth (received into f. c. May 18, '66), Rebecca, Mehitabell, 
Sarah, and Ruhamah, all baptized in this Church ; Samuel, baptized 
May 22, 1659 ; Bethiah, baptized July 7, 1661 ; Hepziba Swetman, 
baptized June 24, 1666. 
PHILIP COOK, and Mary (the daughter of Barnabas Lampson, de- 
ceased), His Wife, both in f. c. Their children, Mary, Samuel, Han- 
nah, and Sarah, borne and baptized in this Church ; Philip, baptized 
May 5, 1661 ; John, baptized August 30, 1663 ; Barnabas Cook, bap- 
tized June 4, '65. 
JOHN TAYLOR, and Katharine, his Wife, both memb. in f. c. Their 

son, Josep Taylor, borne and baptized in this Church. 
JOHN GIBSON, and Rebecca, his Wife, both memb. in f. c. Their 
children, Rebeccah, now joyned in f.c . with the church at Watertowne ; 
Mary, Martha, John, and Samuel, baptized in this Church. 
DAVID FISKE, and Seaborne, his present Wife, both members of this 
Ch. in f. c. His children, by Lydia, deceased, Lydia and David ; the 
children of the foresaid David and Seaborne, Elizabeth and Sarah ; all 
four baptized in this Church ; Hannah, baptized Novemb. 27, '59. 
WILLIAM PATTEN, and Mary, his Wife, both in f. c. Their child- 
ren, Mary, Thomas, and Nathaniel, the eldest being about four or five 
yeares old when Her parents joyned ; baptized in England. 
ROBERT PARKER, and His Wife, both in f. c, having been dismissed 
Hither (together with their children) from the Churches of Boston and 
Roxbury. Their children, Benjamin, John, Sarah, and Rachell. 
WILLIAM TOWNE, and Martha, his Wife, both memb. in f. c. Their 
children, Peter, baptized in England, and about three years old at his 
parents joyning here ; Mary, baptized here, admitted into f. c. No- 
vemb. 4, 1659. 
WILLIAM DICKSON, and Jean, his Wife, both in f. c. Their children, 

Lydia, Abigail, Mary, Hannah, and John, all baptized in this church. 
ANDREW STEVENSON, and Jane, his Wife, both memb. in f. c. 
Their children, Deborah (now the wife of Robert Wilson, of Sudbury), 
baptized in England, and about six years old when her father joyned 
here. Sarah, Rebeccah (dismissed to Billerica, Aug. 13, '67), John, 
Mary, Lydia, Andrew, and Hannah Stevenson ;. all these baptized in 
this Church. 
JOHN SHEPARD (Son of Edward Shepard before named), and his 
wife, both in f. c. Their children, Rebecca, John, Sarah, and Violet, 
all borne and baptized in this Church ; Elizabeth, baptized July 29, 1660 ; 
Edward, baptized August 3, 1662 ; Samuel Shepard, baptized July 3d, 
1664 ; Thomas, baptized Nov. 18, '66. 



60 



RICHARD ECKLES, and Mary, his wife, both in f. c. Their children, 
Mary, Hannah, and Martha, all borne and baptized in this Church. 

JAMES KIDDAR, and Anne, his Wife, both in f. c. Their children, 
Hannah, Dorothy, James, John, and Thomas, all baptized in this 
Church; Nathaniel, baptized fFeb. 27, 165[9?] ; Ephraim, baptized 
May 26, 1661. Dismissed to y e Church at Billerica. 

FRANCIS WHITMORE, and Isabell, His Wife, both in f. c. Their 
children, Elizabeth, rTrancis, John, and Samuel, all baptized in this 
Church ; Abigail, baptized July 3d, 1659 ; Sarah, baptized March 30, 
1662 ; Margery, baptized March 27, 1664 ; Hannah Whitmore (by a 
2d wife), baptized ffeb. 15, 1667. 

WALTER HASTING* (son of John Hasting deceased), and Sarah, his 
wife, both in f. c. Their Daughter, Sarah, baptized in this church, 
deceased ; John, Baptized Decemb. 9, 1660 ; Walter, baptized No- 
vemb. 30, 1662 ; Sarah Hasting, baptized Decemb. the 18, 1664, 
deceased Jan. 26, 1664 ; Hannah, baptized Jan. 14, 1665 ; Elizabeth 
Hasting, baptized febr. 23, '67. 

JOHN GREEN (Son of Persevill and Ellin Green before-named) and 
Ruth (daughter of Edward and Ruth Mitchenson), His Wife, both in 
f. c. Their children, John and Nathaniel, both borne and baptized in 
this Ch. ; Persevill, borne March 29, baptized Apr. 1, 1660 ; Ruth, 
baptized Novemb. 24, '61 ; Samuel, borne May 4, baptized May 10, 
'63 ; Elizabeth, born April 22, baptized April 23, '65; Edward, bap- 
tized Apr. 21, '67. 

WILLIAM HAMLET, and Sarah, his wife, both memb. in f. c. Their 
children, Jacob and Rebeccah, both borne and baptized in this church. 
Also the said Sarah had by a former Husband, Hubbard, child- 
ren, viz. James Hubbard, Sarah Hubbard, now Champny, admitted 
into f. c, Thomas Hubbard, now joyned to y e Church of Wethersfi . . . 

JOHN WATSON, and Rebecca (daughter of Anne Errington, deceased, 
sometimes a sist. of this Ch.), His Wife, both in f. c. Their children, 
Rebeccah and John, both borne and baptized in this Church ; Abraham, 
baptized July 28, 1661 ; Anne, baptized Sept. 16, 1666. 

RICHARD FRANCES, and Alse, His wife, both members in f. c. 
Their Children, Steven, John, and Sarah, all borne and baptized in this 
Church. 

RICHARD DANIE,f and Anne, his Wife, both of them in f. c. Their 
Children, Anne, Jacob, Joseph, and Abiah, all baptized in this Church ; 



* Afterwards deacon of the church. His father does not appear to have 
held this office here, as is erroneously stated by Farmer. 

t Dana, as it is now written. He is the great ancestor of the many fami- 
lies and distinguished men of this name in our country. 



61 



Benjamin, baptized April 8, 1660 ; Elizabeth, baptized April 27, 1662 ; 
Daniel, baptized April 3, 1664. 

WILLIAM BORDMAN, and ffrances, his Wife, both members in f. c. 
with us. Their Children, Moses, deceased March 17, 1661-2; Re- 
beccah, Andrew, Aaron, ffrances, Martha, Mary, and William, all bap- 
tized in this Church ; Elizabeth, baptized August 26, 1660. 

ANNE HASTING (formerly Mean), the widow of John Hasting, de- 
ceased, is a member in f. c. with this Ch. Her Children, Sarah, the 
wife of Walter Hasting, before-named, who is in f. c. ; Mary Mean, 
who was borne and baptized in this Church. The foresaid John Has- 
ting was dismissed hither from the Church of Braintree, and joyned 
here in ffebruar., 1656. His children are, Walter, beforenamed, Sam- 
uel, who was baptized in England, and about — years of age when His 
ffather joyned to y' ch. of Braintree ; John Seaborne and Elizabeth, 
both baptized at Braintree. 

HANNAH THATCHER (the Wife of Samuel Thatcher), living 
in Watertowne, is a member in f. c. with this Ch. 

ELIZABETH OAKES, dismissed to Maldon, Decemb. 2, 1667, the 
widow of Thomas Oakes, is memb. in f. c, as was also Her Husband, 
Thomas Oakes, lately deceased. Their Children yet living, Elizabeth 
and Hannah, both borne and baptized in this Ch. ; Thomas Oakes, 
borne after his father's decease, and baptized March 20, 1658-9; 
Abigail Howard, y e child of Elizabeth (formerly Oakes, now) How- 
ard, baptized here Septemb. 23, 1666. 

MARTHA RUSSELL (the Wife of William Russell) is a memb. in 
f. c. Her Children, Joseph, baptized in England, and about ten years 
of age when His mother joyned here ; Benjamin, John, Martha, Philip, 
William, and Jason, baptized in this Church ; Joice, baptized May 13, 
1660. 

JOHANNA SILL, a memb. in f. c, as was also her Husband. Their 
Children, Joseph Sill,* but three years old at his mother's joyning with 
this Church ; Elizabeth Sill, now Hicks, not two years old at y e same 
Time ; both of them baptized in England. 

MARTHA OLDAM (now Browne), is a member in f. c. ; so was also 
Her Husband, Richard Oldam, deceased. Their Children, Samuel 
and John Oldam, both baptized in this Church. Her second Husband, 
Thomas Brown, admitted May 18, 1666. Her child, Mehitabell 
Browne, baptized June 2d, 1661 ; Mary, baptized Nov. 8, '63 ; Eben- 
ezer, July 23, '65 ; Ichabod Brown, baptized Septemb. 9, 1666. 

ESTHER CHEAVERS, the wife of Daniel Cheavers, is a member in 



* There was a Captain Joseph Sill who distinguished himself in Philip's 
War, who may have been the person here named. 



62 



f. c. Her children, Lydia, James, Daniel, and Mary Cheavers, all 
baptized in this Church; Israel Cheever, baptized Januar. 26, 1661; 
John, baptized July 31, 1659 ; Esther, baptized Januar. 27, 1660, de- 
ceased ffeb., '60; Hannah and Elizabeth Cheavers {gemella; baptized 
May 29, 64; both deceased, June 14 and June 16, 1664) ; Elizabeth, 
baptized Aug. 6, '65. 

MARGERY CANE, the widow of Christopher Cane, deceased, is memb. 
in f. c, as was also Christopher, her Husband. Their Children, Jona- 
than, Nathaniel, Deborah, Ruth, and Esther, all baptized here. 

JOANE PRENTICE, Widow of Henry Prentice, deceased, is member 
in f. c.,as was Her said Husband ; also their Children, Mary, Solomon,. 
Abiah, Samuel,. Sarah, and Henry, all borne and baptized in this 
Church. 

DEBORAH WILSON (y e wife of Robert Wilson, daughter of Andrew 
Stevenson, abovenamed) admitted into f. c. March 5, 1665-6. Her 
child, Deborah, baptized Sept. 30, 1666. 

RICHARD HASSELL, and Joane, his Wife, both in f. c. Their 
Children, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Esther, all baptized in this Church. 

THOMAS PRENTICE, and Grace, his Wife, both in f. c. Their 
Children, Grace, baptized in England, and about four years old at Her 
parents joyning ; Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary, and John, all baptized in 
this Church. 

EDWARD HALL, and Margaret, his wife, both members in f. c. 

MARY HALL, Widow, is member in f. c. with us. Her children were 
all Adult at y e Time of her joyning. But two of them are since 
joyned to y e Church of Concord; viz. John and Susanna. 

ABRAHAM ERRINGTON, admitted into f. c. March 27, 1663. 

REBECKAH ERRINGTON (the Wife of Abraham Errington), daugh- 
ter to Robert Cutler, of Charlestown, is member in f. c. with us. Her 
Children, Rebecca, Hannah, and Sarah Errington, all baptized in this 
Church ; Mary, baptized Januar. 13, 1660 ; Abraham, baptized No- 
vemb. 8, 1663. 

ANNE ADAMS (the Wife of John Adams), is member in f. c. John 
Adams Hims. admitted May 18, 1666. Her Children, Rebecca Ad- 
ams, borne and baptized in England ; Mary, John, and Joseph Adams, 
baptized in this Church; Hannah, baptized June 17, 1660, deceased 
Januar. 25, 1660; Daniel, baptized Septemb. 14, 1662. 

ELIZABETH HALL (the Wife of Thomas Hall), is memb. in f. c. 
Her Children, Mary, Hannah, and Lydia Hall, all baptized in this 
Church. 

EDWARD WINDSHIP, and Elizabeth, his Wife, both members in f. c. 
His Children by His former Wife, Jane, deceased, who was also in f. c. 
with this Church, Sarah, Mary, Ephraim, and Johannah Windship. 
The children of Edward and Elizabeth, above-named, Elizabeth, Ed- 



63 



ward, Abigail, and Samuel Windship, all eight borne and baptized in 
this Church; Joseph, baptized August 25, '61 ; Margery, baptized 
ffebr. 5, 1664 ; Mehitabel, baptized Nov. 17, 1667. 

SARAH CHAMPNY (the Wife of Samuel Champny abovenamed), is 
member in f. c. Their Children, Samuel, baptized ffebr. 13, 1658, de- 
ceased ; Sarah, baptized May 13, 1660 ; Mary, baptized August 17, 1662. 

ROBERT BROWNE, member of this Church in f. c. 

RICHARD CUTTER, readmitted ; Elizabeth Cutter (the wife of Rich- 
ard Cutter) is member with us in f. c. Their children, Elizabeth, 
Samuel, William, Ephraim, Gershom, and Marah, all borne and bap- 
tized in this Church. — Nathaniel Cutter (the son of Richard and [Fran- 
ces] formerly Embsden), baptized Januar. 24, '63, deceased ; Rebekah, 
baptized Octob. 8, 1665 ; Hephzibah, Baptized Decemb. 1, 1667. 

JOHN FRENCH, and Sarah, his Wife, both now deceased, were some- 
times members of this Church, in f. c. Their children, John, Sarah 
(dismissed unto the Church at Billerica, May 16, 1664), Joseph, and 
Nathaniel, all baptized in this Church. 

HANNAH HOLMES (formerly Thatcher), y e wife of John Holmes, 
admitted into f. c. May 31, 1667. Their child, John, Baptized June 9, 
1667 ; Hannah, baptized June 30, 1667. 

DAVID STONE (the sonne of Gregory Stone, above-mentioned), and 
Dorcas, his Wife, both in f. c. Their children, David, Daniel, Dorcas, 
John, Samuel, and Nathaniel, all borne and baptized in this Church. 

SAMUEL STONE (the sonne also of Gregory before-named) is in f. c. 
His wife, [Sarah] Stone, admitted into f. c. Oct. 18, 1661. His child- 
ren, Samuel and Isaack, Both baptized in this Church; Sarah, baptized 
March 10, 1660-1; John, Baptized June 7, 1663; Lydia, baptized 
Decemb. 31, 1665; Mary, baptized March 22, 1667-8. 

MARY PADDLEFOOT (the Wife of Jonathan Paddlefoot), admitted 
into fellowship and f. c. Nov. 4, '59. Her children, Mary, Jonathan, 
and Zachariah, baptized Novemb. 6, 59; Edward, baptized July 8, 
1660 ; Thomas Emes, the son of Thomas and Mary (formerly Paddle- 
foot, now) Emes, baptized July 12, 1663. 

SARAH BARRET (the Wife of William Barret) admitted into fellow- 
ship and f. c. Nov. 4, '59, deceased. Her children, Lydia Barret, 
baptized Novemb. 6, '59 ; John, baptized ffebr. 10, 1660. [Mary] Bar- 
ret, 2d wife of William Barret, received into fellow, and f. c. May 
18, '61. Her child, William, baptized May 20, 1661 ; Edward, bap- 
tized Januar. 12. 

STEPHEN DAY,* admitted into fellowship and f. c, ffebruar. 28, 
1660-1. 

* The unskilful London apprentice, who came over in 1638, and took 
charge of the printing-press set up in Cambridge in 1639, the first in North 
America. He was superseded in 1648 by Samuel Green. (See p. 57.) 



64 



MARY GOAVE, the wife of John Goave, admitted into fellowship and 
f. c., ffebruar. 28, 1660-1. Her children, Mary and John, baptized 
March 3, 1660-1; Aspinwall, baptized Octob. 6, 1661, deceased 
Octob. 14, 1661 ; Nathaniel, baptized Novemb. 16, 1662; James, bap- 
tized Decemb. 13, 1663 ; 1 Goave, Baptized August 4, 1667. 

ABRAHAM HOMAN, admitted into fellowship and f. c. Octob. 18, 1661. 
His wife, admitted May 18, '66. 

HANNAH GOFFE, y e Wife of Samuel Goffe, admitted into fellow- 
ship and f. c. Octob. 18, 1661. Her children, Hannah, Edward, and 
Deborah, baptized Octob. 20, 1661; Samuel, baptized ffebr. 8, 1662; 
Lydia, baptized Januar. 15, 1664 ; John Goffe, baptized Decemb. 9, 
1666. 

[ABIGAIL] MARRIOT, the wife of John Marriot, admitted into fellow- 
ship and f. c. Octob. 21, 1661; John Marriot, admitted into f. c. 
Januar. 3, 1664. Her children, Thomas, Amos, and Susanna, baptized 
Novemb. 3, '61 ; John, baptized ffebr. 9, 1661 ; John, baptized June 5, 

1664 ; Abigail Marriot, baptized August 19, 1666. 

WIDOW EMBSDEN,* admitted into fellowship and full communion 
October 21, 1661. Her children, Isaac and Jacob Embsden, both bap- 
tized Novemb. 3, 1661. 

ZECHARIAH HICKS, admitted into fellowship and f. c. Januar. 8, 
1661; Elizabeth, His wife, admit, into f. c. May 23, 1665. Their 
children, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Joseph, baptized Januar. 12, 1661 ; 
Thomas, baptized July 3d, 1664 ; Hannah, baptized March 4, 1665-6. 

JONATHAN HIDE, and Mary, His Wife, admitted into fellowship and 
f. c. Januar. 8, 1661. Their children, Jonathan, baptized ffebr. 9, 
1661 ; Samuel, John, and Elizabeth, baptized ffebr. 16, 1661 ; William, 
baptized, [Novjemb. 16, 16—; Eleaza[r], baptized July 3d, 1664. 

MARY MITCHENSON (the wife of William Mitchenson) admitted 
into fellowship and f. c. March 27, 1663. Her children, Mary, Thomas, 
Alse, baptized April 5, 1663 ; [R]uth, baptized Octob. 4, 1663 ; Abi- 
gail, baptized March 11, 1665-6. 

JAMES HUBBARD, admitted into f. c. March 27, 1663. His child, 
Sarah, baptized April 5, 16 — ; Marah (or Mary, borne Octob. 22, 

1665 ; mother dying y° same day), baptized 1665. 

DEBORAH MAKOON (y e wife of John Makoon) admitted into fellow- 
ship with us and baptized on July 19, 1663. Her children, Hannah 
and Deborah, baptized July 19, '63; Sarah, baptized Novemb. 8, 1663. 

[BJETHIAH WELLS (formerly Mitchenson), the daughter of Edward 
and Ruth Mitchenson, above-named, admitted into f. c. Januar. 1, 1664. 
Mr. Wells, her Husband, admitted May 18, '66. Her child, Daniel 

* OrAmsden, as now written. She afterwards married R. Cutter. See 
p. 63. 



65 



Wells, bap [Edward,] baptized June 10, 1666 ; [Bejthiah, 

baptized Januar. 20, 1667. 

MARY, the Wife of Joseph Russell, admitted into fellowship and f. c. 
Jan. 3, 1664. Her child, Mary Russell, b[aptize]d Januar. 8, 1664 ; 
Abigail, Baptized May 17, 1668. 

JEMIMAH SILL, (for[merly Belcher,] the wife of Joseph SpHJ 

mm Their two children, Joseph, baptized March 11, 

1665-6 ; Jemimah, baptized March 31, 1667. 

SETH ROSSE,* the wife of Thomas Rosse, (the daughter of Mr. 
Homan), admitted May 2, and Baptized May 28, 1665; as also Her 
child Marget, baptized May Thomas, baptized July 1, 1666. 

NATHANIEL HANCOCK, admitted into fellowship May 31, '67, bap- 
tized June 2d, '67, aged — . 

MARY HANCOCK (formerly Prentice, y e daughter of Henry and 
Joan Prentice, above-named), admitted into f. c. May 23, 1665. Her 

child, Nathaniel, baptized May 28 deceased ; Mary, 

baptized May 13, 1666 ; Sarah, baptized Sept. 15, 1667. 

GORDON FILLEBROWNE, admitted into fellowship and f. c. May 18, 
1666. His children, Thomas and Mary, baptized May 20 ; Hannah, 
baptized Oct. 14, 1[666]. 



* She afterwards removed to Billerica, where she was murdered by the 
Indians, in 1695. 






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